Restore
by Mighty Dreamfinder
Summary: Determined to protect his family from the possibility of another war, Gaster steadily realizes just how much he can influence the future of monsterkind when the first human child since Chara falls into the Underground and into their lives. But the Core has been growing stronger, and a talking flower seems to think Gaster's forgotten something deadly important.
1. Prologue

**RESTORE**

 **Prologue**

" _You know, I was a solider once. Many of us were … and not exactly by choice."_

The skeleton monster stared in silence from where he stood with a band of one hundred or so monsters, rallied together in a sudden effort to defend their settlement from the angered humans from the next village over the mountain. He had been given a sword, but the weapon felt stupid in his hands. He hoped he wouldn't need to use it.

King Asgore, dressed in royal robes and thick armor, a red trident in his mighty white-furred fist, stood in front of them, facing the huge mob of humans advancing towards them across the valley. It was more of an army than a mob. And all of them with Souls burning bright red as they charged, spears aimed for the monsters.

They almost blurred among each other from the amount of raw determination.

Gaster could hear Asgore's deep voice telling them to stand their ground, and then the king slammed forward, running three humans through with his trident. The monsters lunged after the king and the battle began.

Gaster felt his own Soul shudder and freeze inside him, rooting him to the spot in utter shock and fear as the violence raged around him. Dust began to fill the air alongside the screams of agony, hate, and desperation from both monster and human lungs.

At some point he must have fallen to his knees, gripping his sword in trembling hands. He couldn't do this; he couldn't fight. He didn't want to be apart of this.

A man entered his vision and they locked eyes. The human rushed at him, eyes burning red and a hideous grin on his face, spear raised, and then Gaster knew why he had agreed to standing with his fellow monsters in battle when Asgore called for soldiers.

They were going to be extinct at the end of all this.

He had no choice. Not really.

Still trembling, the skeleton stared in horror as he plunged his blade through the human's torso. Blood squirted and splattered his skull as his attacker fell. Beyond him, a second skeleton monster fell into a mound of dust.

Gaster choked and covered his mouth, nearly sobbing. He flung his arm skywards. Above where he knelt on the ground, a skeletal head appeared and fired a blast, screams following.

But probably even worse than the violence taking place wherever he looked was the fact his mind knew it was only a memory being replayed as a dream. A very real, very true memory. Gaster could only watch himself go through the motions of war.

" _Of course, I didn't start out as a soldier. I was a doctor then, before the war. I wanted to fix things. To help people, monster and human."_

The settings shifted, becoming hazed with red fog as the dream lolled off out of context with Gaster's war memories. The battle raged, but it was silent and cold. His own sword was in his hand, mocking him, covered with crimson life liquid. Gaster shut his eyes.

" _Doctor Gaster? What is this place?"_

" _I_ never _wanted to kill ..."_

" _Please … then please, don't kill me, too."_

He opened his eyes. A green Soul was suddenly there in front of him, bobbing up and down slowly.

Dumbfounded, Gaster backed away. His footsteps echoed off of smooth floors, not uneven earth from the surface. The battlefield memory was gone, but the green Soul stayed, taking up all his attention. From somewhere deep inside himself, the doctor-turned soldier felt a lump of dread welling up. This wasn't right.

Green Souls were made of Kindness, and you never found those out on the battlefield.

* * *

The skeleton doctor's eyes flew open and he stared at the ceiling of his darkened bedroom.

Groaning, Gaster shifted his arm over his eyes and began to count to one hundred until his Soul stopped its panicked shuddering. It was just a dream. A nightmare mixed with memories and a load of guilt he wanted to forget. He couldn't afford to let a mere nightmare get the best of him, especially with a full day of work ahead of him.

"Only a dream," the Royal Scientist told himself gently. "You're fine. The war is over. You … did what you had to, but it will _never_ happen again."

Nightmares or not, he would always remember a time when he was a doctor that tended to both monsters and human children during an epidemic. He'd mend broken bones and soothe fever-ridden youngsters to sleep from both races. He was the skeleton man who fixed things and made people all better. And yet he'd forced himself to go against all he ever wanted and took life instead of saving it.

He had only ever wanted to be a doctor, but the war had taken the optimistic version of himself and turned him into … something else.

Something he wanted to forget.

* * *

Ebott park was bustling with activity.

The small clearing at the base of the single mountain was a common place for public activities or celebrations, such as birthdays. Picnic tables were spread with colorful sheets and laden with hamburgers, hot dogs and all sorts of typical party food. A group of children darted around the playground structure which now adorned a flimsy pirate flag. The youngsters wore bandannas and carried their cheap, plastic swords with pride and marched after one particular boy wearing a pirate's eye patch, barking orders to his 'crew.'

But off to the side of the festivities stood a little girl in a bright blue dress and a light sweater under a tree, loose brown hair partially held back by two pink ribbons.

Tabitha shifted her weight from one foot to the other, finding her party shoes pinched a little too much. Her eyes followed the older kids longingly, but they had made it clear that they had no room for her in their crew. She was "too little", they said.

An adult had noticed and said they needed to be nice to the little girl, before giving her one of the toy swords.

"Now you can play too," the adult had said, smiling in a satisfied way.

Tabitha now looked down at the toy knife in her hand. It was smaller than the other kids' swords. Made for a baby. And they still didn't want her tagging along in their games. "We don't got room for babies," the birthday boy had declared when she'd asked to play along.

Tears welled up in her eyes at the fresh memory and she scowled at the ground. She _wasn't_ a baby. She was six years old after all!

Tabitha frowned and turned her attention to the mountain instead of the party in front of her. It was so big. People weren't supposed to go near it for some reason. They said it was dangerous and bad things happened on the mountain. No one ever said what they were, though.

She wiped the back of her hand across her face and sniffled, casting one quick glance back at the other children, who had now taken over the playground structure, chattering and yelling about attacking mermaids and monsters. Without her.

The little girl narrowed her eyes at the bigger kids and lifted her chin. She turned and darted away, heading defiantly for the looming mountain in the distance. She was not a baby and she was going to prove it.

Babies don't climb mountains after all. That would show them.

* * *

 _ **Author's Note**_ **: This story has been in the works for almost a year. Inspired by many Gaster-centered comics, I wanted to try my hand at portraying Gaster as not only the Royal Scientist, but also as a father to everyone's favorite skeleton brothers. Expect skeleton-family shenanigans. ;)**

 **Plus, it's not often to find a story involving one of the other Fallen Souls prior to Frisk.**

 **Reviews are always appreciated!**


	2. The Doctor's Vacation

"Gaster. Gaster, wake up. Are you all right?"

Gaster groaned and his eyes cracked open, showing him a blurred fuzz. He lay flat on his back, and the fuzz turned into king Asgore's furry face hovering anxiously in his line of sight.

Gaster pushed himself into sitting up. "I'm so sorry, your majesty. I don't- Oh my." He immediately pressed a bony hand to his face. His scars were throbbing. In fact, his whole head pounded.

"There was an explosion," Asgore's voice practically frowned as the king laid a hand on his shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Gaster looked around, suddenly understanding the urgency in the king's tone. They were in the Core's metal-walled chamber, near the edge that allowed one to view the massive source of thriving energy from above. The energy cast a warm, fire-like glow throughout the chamber. Swirling, bright, pulsating substance shifted like liquid in a vat down below, the only visible portion of the Core that they could see without certain death if they happened to try and go any further.

"And you're not even wearing the proper safety gear for this room," Asgore scolded. He clutched Gaster's arm and easily lifted the skeleton monster to his feet.

The scientist hastily brushed Asgore off, trying quickly to reclaim whatever shreds of dignity he had left. "I was only … well … I would have it if …?"

Asgore's brow knitted in worry. "Can't you remember?"

Gaster hesitated. He had just awoken in the presence of the king on the floor in the most dangerous chamber in the whole Underground without taking any safety precautions prior with absolutely no idea as to why. It wasn't exactly the most reassuring facts, especially when he was supposed to be the intelligent Royal Scientist.

Gaster tugged his lab coat sleeves. "An explosion, you say? What kind? How big?"

"You don't know what happened at all, do you?"

The skeleton monster hummed. A pair of see-through skeletal hands, an exact mirror of his real, solid ones, appeared in the air before him and spread apart in a show of uncertainty. The scientist huffed. That added magical ability could always be counted on to portray his emotions or thoughts, whether he was ready or not.

"Well I assume I was here for a very important reason. Likely my head is suffering from the shock of the explosion, which is hindering my memory, but more importantly-"

"No, you need to stop." Asgore gripped him by his lab coat's arm and proceeded to pull Gaster toward the exit. "You should sit down and get your bearings before you start trying to analyze whatever happened. Honestly, Gaster, you could have Fallen Down, and then where would we be?"

Protesting was of no use. Even if Gaster had truly wished to put up a fight, Asgore beat him when it came to physical strength, and there was never any excuse for Gaster to use his true power on the kindly king. While Asgore was first and foremost king of the Underground, he was also Gaster's friend, and therefore he usually was more vocal with concerns for the Royal Scientist's well being. Even if Gaster was experimenting or working in the name of science, Asgore would find some way to steer him back to, _"Are you certain you won't kill yourself by accident, Dr. Gaster?"_

Gaster and Asgore entered one of the observation rooms and Gaster was promptly led to a chair. He winced, realizing how much the clearer air versus the atmosphere of the Core was appreciated after … whatever he had just gone through. "Tell me what happened, Asgore."

"There was an explosion. All of Hotland surely felt it. Dr. Alphys said it had come from the Core and I made my way over to see for myself." Asgore stepped up beside the window that peered down into the mega chamber and stared at Gaster gravely. "All I found was you flung to the floor, and dangerously close to the edge, without any means to stop you from falling in."

"My, that does sound inappropriate." Gaster rested his chin against his fingers. "I have no recollection of going into the Core chamber, or of any explosion. But it makes me wonder."

He reached into his lab coat, pulled out his cell phone and dialed. "Dr. Alphys? Are you at the lab still?"

" _Wh-What? Of course I am. D-Did you hear the explosion?"_

"Yes. Sort of. Can you please check the readings of the Core for me and let me know what they are?"

" _Um, sure! One-One moment ..."_

Asgore frowned. "Dr. Gaster, I don't think you should be concerned with your work just this moment."

" _Is that Asgore?"_

"Yes. He's here."

"Dr. Gaster, you've been in the proximity of an explosion. I hardly think now is the time for-"

" _You were in the explosion?"_ Alphys cried.

Gaster jerked the phone away from his head. He regarded Asgore's disapproving gaze and sighed, "Text me the results, please," and hung up.

"What's your current HP status?" questioned the king.

"It's already low. That's because I've had trouble sleeping. It's merely a minor inconvenience."

"It's not when you've been caught in an explosion, doctor."

Gaster's phone buzzed. He flipped it open and read Alphys' message before quickly sucking in a breath just as good as anyone with real lungs. "I-I don't believe this."

The king raised a brow. "What is it?"

"The strength of the Core has jumped again!"

Gaster stood to his feet and held out his phone, using a bony fingertip to tap rapidly at the impressive number. "Look! Right there, look at that. I've been keeping track of its strength for years. Only more recently have we experienced a fluctuation in power that causes it to rise."

His floating hands waved and one snapped its fingers. "And I'll bet that's what caused the explosion. It's making more sense now. I obviously came here to see for myself and that's when the explosion happened." He paused and straightened. "How much time has passed?"

"I'm only aware of finding you not too long ago."

"The boys?"

"They likely haven't been alerted of anything. It's been too quick."

Gaster relaxed and smiled softly. "That's good." He could easily imagine his young sons dealing with a message telling them their father had been caught in an explosion. Papyrus would probably cry and Sans would do his best to cover his own fear and comfort his brother. Gaster wouldn't hear the end of it.

The Royal Scientist shook himself. "Back to the Core now. I've noticed these increases in power over time, and I have every reason to think that it can work to our benefit."

The king sighed and nodded his head. "Continual power for the Underground is always good."

"No, your majesty, it's not that." The skeleton winced. "I had actually hoped to have a more … professional audience with you, but you may as well know now." Gaster held up a hand and made a fist, his excitement dancing in his eye lights. "I believe the stronger the Core becomes, the closer we will be to freedom."

That reached Asgore immediately. The king's yellow head lifted, his eyes widened. "It could break the barrier?"

Gaster nodded firmly.

"Well," Asgore smiled an odd smile. "That's very good news. And …" he pressed a hand to his forehead, "... perhaps, not so good."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, Gaster, you know as much as I that we did not part with the humans on the surface peacefully." The king shifted, one clawed paw grabbing at the folds of his royal cape. "We haven't forgotten the war, and I doubt they will have, either. As much as monsters want to be set free, as do I, I sometimes wonder … will the cost be worth it?"

Gaster stepped back, suddenly feeling very stiff. "You think there will be another war."

"I think the war will continue where it left off."

The skeleton monster's mind raced. Somehow, in the many centuries sealed underground, he had never thought much of going to war again with the humans. That was a horrible memory of long past, something to move forward from and forget as much as possible. His focus had always been on returning to the surface, seeing the sun again, experiencing true, shifting weather and seasons, introducing the boys to the same life he knew at their age.

The thought of the war resuming … His Soul shuddering faintly, the doctor looked at the floor."I never thought about it."

"No, war was never your business, doctor."

Gaster placed a hand behind his head and sighed, quietly confessing, "Truthfully, I still see it in my nightmares."

"How often do you experience these nightmares?" When Gaster failed to answer, the king nodded. "That's what I thought."

Asgore walked toward the door silently and stopped. "Dr. Gaster, I'm sending you home until further notice for the sake of your health."

 _What?_

"But-But that's not _necessary_ ," Gaster exploded. "Today has merely been an accident. You can't ban me from my work now at such a crucial point-"

"I can declare you a temporary leave of absence because I'm not only your friend, but the king," Asgore declared patiently. "Gaster you haven't been taking care of yourself. All one has to do is look at you. Alphys and everyone working the Core can see it. I was going to try and talk to you about spending less time at work before this whole business with the explosion took place anyway."

Gaster stared at the other monster for one long moment, but every excuse he could think of was restrained. He knew he had been overworking himself. Ever since the Core's strength began abnormally growing, Gaster's concentration had been trained almost fully on his work and the hope of being able to reach freedom for monsterkind. Now that he acknowledged it, his loss of sleep and the nightmares that came along when he could rest were only getting worse the longer he wore himself out with work.

Asgore was clearly ready to make a stand this time. Perhaps if Gaster had listened to him more instead of dismissing his concerns he would have more high ground in this argument. Gaster himself knew his energy was … lower than it should have been.

Still, he had to protest. "Who will oversee the tests for the Core? The new power levels? This is information I can't allow to be left unnoticed."

"Dr. Alphys will oversee things until you are ready to return." Asgore walked over and lay a hand on Gaster's shoulder. The scientist did his best not to show his surprise at the sudden weight, especially since the gesture never felt as burdensome in the past. He really was run down, wasn't he?

"Gaster, go home. Take time for your hobbies for a change. Drink some tea. Cook something. Think of it as a vacation. Spend more time with Sans and Papyrus. They won't be children forever, you know."

Asgore said it so kindly, and with the king's well known past involving his own children, there was absolutely no room for arguing that he did not know what he was talking about. Still, the thought of abandoning work now was a tough fact to accept.

Gaster's floating hands fumbled in the air and he frowned. "I can check in every other day at least."

"Out of the question. This is very serious, my friend. I'll have the Royal Guard monitor things if I must, Gaster. Leave things to me and get yourself and your mind away from work for now."

Gaster held a hand to his face and released a grating sigh. "This is outrageous."

"You're just sore because I'm pulling rank over your ridiculous scientific ego," Asgore chuckled, making Gaster pause and flush blue.

"That … is a good joke."

After all, they both knew out of all the monsters left in the Underground, no one had the same genius skills and knowledge like Gaster. The very reason alone had been determined long ago, before the Core was even a possibility.

Gaster absently pulled at the fabric of his lab coat. "My position and the work I oversee are important, sire. You know that, don't you?"

Asgore folded his large arms and gave Gaster a calm look. "So is my friend's well-being."

"But we could very well be near to freeing our whole race!"

"I think the freedom of the Underground can wait a few weeks more. And besides, what good will you be to us if you're worn out?"

Gaster huffed, shoving his hands in his coat pockets. "Oh honestly. I'm not going to make you change your mind, am I?"

The king smiled. "Not this time, my friend."

* * *

The Royal Scientist was met with two questions the moment he arrived at his small Snowdin home and walked through the door earlier than usual.

One was, "How long are you on vacation for, Dad?"

The second, "You're back early! Can we make spaghetti together?!"

Gaster had to smile at the greetings. Despite the fact his sons were the same age, Sans and Papyrus were vastly different from each other.

Shorter and easy-going, Sans' deep eye sockets regarded his father with clarity and alertness, always seeming to discern Gaster's thoughts whether he fully shared them or not. He wore a loose-fitting navy sweatshirt accompanied by his favorite black shorts.

The smaller skeleton tipped his rounded skull and grinned. "Did Asgore make ya take time off?"

"We have fresh tomatoes, too!" Papyrus enthused, eyes shining, his mind on the hope of cooking alongside his father for dinner. His outfit, an orange T-shirt and rusty colored pants still sported a few snow flurries, telling Gaster they likely had arrived home themselves not very long ago. Where Sans displayed remarkable observation and a maturer thought process, Papyrus was more excitable, innocent and unassuming, always quick to think the best of any and all circumstances.

He barreled into Gaster, throwing bony arms around the adult's waist. "Oh yeah! Welcome home, Dad!"

Gaster hugged him back and grinned, marveling at the fact Papyrus' head almost reached his lower shoulder. Sans was a full head shorter than his brother. But boy, they were growing up fast.

"Well, I'm not sure how long I have to stay away- erm, stay home … on vacation," Gaster smiled and grimaced all at once in reply to Sans. Papyrus pulled back a little and Gaster looked him over before nodding. "Spaghetti sounds wonderful, Papyrus. In fact, we'll probably have time to try out other recipes while I'm off."

Papyrus pumped his arms. "Wonderful!"

"Maybe we could get Grillby's once in awhile, huh, Dad?" Sans asked.

"Sans! We just came from there," Papyrus scolded. "You wanted a snack!"

His brother grinned some more. "Gotta keep that HP up. Right, Dad?"

Papyrus looked up at Gaster and blinked. "What are we going to do while you're home?"

Gaster hummed and rubbed his chin. "Besides cooking and eating?"

"Sounds good to me," Sans murmured, moving and taking a seat at the table that sat just outside of their kitchen.

"Actually I think what this house needs is some good work and attention." Gaster surveyed the living space shared among the three skeletons with a sharp gaze. The green couch was scattered with scarves and one of his coats was shamefully discarded on it's arm, half dragging on the floor. Dust had collected on the screen of their television. The side table held old plates and action figures, the computer desk was cluttered with notes and books that hadn't been returned to the book shelves. A pile of crumpled socks was even beginning to grow near the stairs.

Gaster winced. The house definitely looked like it had seen better days. That was even without including the odd color scheme of plum walls, orange trim and blue carpet. He still did not know what he had been thinking in the early days when he made the selections for his house in Snowdin. Gaster had never really thought he would be entertaining much company with all his time taken at the lab in Hotland, or his office in the basement. But then, he hadn't counted on the loneliness that opened the door for Sans and Papyrus to enter his life. Otherwise he would have built a larger house. They had space, but just barely.

"I think tomorrow we'll give this place a good cleaning," he announced.

Papyrus surprised him by wheeling around and glaring at his brother at the table. "So you'd better pick up your sock pile, _Sans_!"

Sans jolted upright, looking as if he had nearly fallen asleep. "What?"

"Stay with us, son." Gaster poked the younger skeleton's skull with a floating hand. He smirked. "We'll need your help with dinner."

"You sure that's a good idea?"

"I'm well aware of your amazing culinary skills," Gaster teased. They all knew Sans had none. "But for the sake of simplicity, you can just set the table."

Once dinner was made and the table set properly for the first time in a while, Gaster and his sons took their seats. The adult skeleton sighed deeply, finding he had missed taking the time to relax and enjoy a proper meal with the boys rather than scarf food down while at the computer or staying late at the lab.

He spun a forkful of pasta and glanced from one skeleton to the other. "Well now, tell me what you two were up to today. It's library day, isn't it?"

Library sessions were what stood in place for the Underground's public education. A handful of children in the monster population would meet twice a week with the librarian and get a simple lesson for the day. It was small and crude compared to the way learning could be, much to Gaster's disdain. But it was enough.

Sans swallowed a bite before answering. "We learned 'bout Chara."

"Ah. I knew Chara."

His boys both turned their attention onto the elder skeleton. "Lots of people knew her, right?" Sans asked. He leaned his arms against the table and looked at his father curiously. "What was the kid like?"

"I'm more concerned with knowing how much you both learned today."

Sans and Papyrus exchanged looks. Sans shrugged and his brother spoke up slowly, "Well, we already know what everybody else knows … what you told us."

"Long after the humans sealed us underground, a human fell down and was adopted by the king and queen. Became like one of their own, and was a sibling to Asriel," Sans recited calmly, eyes on his plate. "Then one day, Chara got sick and died. Asriel took her body past the barrier because of some wish she'd made, but the humans attacked him. He came back and died. So the king hates humans from now on."

"That's definitely the short version." Gaster grimaced before leaning back in his seat and shifting his attention to Papyrus. He wondered what his compassionate, looking-for-good-everywhere son thought of the grave history lesson. "What did you think of it, Papyrus?"

The younger skeleton frowned. "Erm … rather _confusing_ , Dad. Why does the king want to hate humans?" He blinked wide eyes. "Don't we need their help to break the barrier?"

Gaster hesitated. Didn't they teach the _hows_ and _whys_ behind the seal of magic that kept them trapped underground? Or had Papyrus just missed it completely? He glanced at Sans and met his eyes, which darkened slightly. Gaster frowned. Likely Papyrus didn't understand a few things in his ignorant innocence. What was the best way to inform him of the truth?

"It's true, only a monster with a human Soul can cross through the barrier, or vice versa, in order to leave. And it will take up to seven Souls to destroy the barrier in whole. But when Chara fell down, the Dreemurrs showed her mercy by adopting her as their own. So … they couldn't just use her Soul because they cared about her. In the three years Chara lived in the Underground she became very interested in the freedom of the monsters. There was talk, whispers of hope that perhaps … perhaps this human would be our future."

"Oh, they said that!" Papyrus jumped up, nodding eagerly. He froze and blinked. "What's it mean?"

"It was the humans that sealed us underground with their magic, and so, humans will have to break it. But not only that, but for the first time since the war we had a true alliance between monster and human races. Chara was a Dreemurr through and through. If we could somehow find our freedom, Chara would be the bridge between two races …"

Gaster trailed off and blinked slowly as his own words registered in his mind. "There would … there would be no need for more fighting."

They were silent for a while before Sans picked up where Gaster left off. "But Chara died."

"Yes. And with her, many hopes and dreams. No, not just her death, but Asriel's too." Gaster leaned his arms against the table and folded his hands. "The whole event was just shocking. Asriel came back and died in front of his parents."

"You were the Royal Scientist then, weren't you?"

"I was."

"You saw it?"

"... No. But I saw what it did to them."

"But what if another human falls down here?" Papyrus asked, head lifting. "They could take Chara's place, right? Not as their new child, but for a new bridge. Help us get free and make friends with the rest of the humans?"

Gaster smiled weakly. What a lofty hope. "Maybe. Remember, king Asgore is angry with them."

"Are humans evil?"

Gaster's head swung to stare at Sans. He noted how he continued to stare at his food, but he wasn't eating.

Sans' brow furrowed. "You've never said much about humans you know, Dad. Only that they're not … good. So, are they evil?"

"It's … complicated." Gaster frowned and thought carefully. "The war, you see … it was unfair, but the drive behind it was fear. The humans feared what would happen if a monster absorbed a human Soul, since their Souls linger after death and ours do not. A monster with a human Soul is a very powerful, terrifying creature. And before you ask, no I haven't seen one myself, but we had recordings of what would happen. Still, they were afraid we would turn on them, and attacked first. But since it would take all of our Souls to equal the strength of one human's, we were defeated … rather quickly."

Gaster sighed and lifted a hand. "Are humans evil? I'm not sure I can answer that. But they are very strong and very dangerous. I actually doubted Asgore and Toriel's judgment when they accepted Chara into their family. Humans seem to bring trouble and death with them."

"Dad ..." Sans frowned, struggling to find the right words. "Was _Chara_ evil?"

Gaster stared blankly at his son. Somewhere in his mind, he recalled a time he had overheard Chara and Asriel speaking while he waited to see the king. The child's voice had been heavy with bitterness. She spoke about her own kind like they were poison.

"Brother, that isn't very nice!" Papyrus gave him a sharp look. "Chara's dead! It's sad, but you shouldn't say bad things about her when you don't know if they're true."

"Sorry, bro."

* * *

The following day, after tackling the mess that their home had fallen into for seemingly hours on end, including two disagreements among the boys about the sock pile and an unsolved mystery about an orange peel pasted to the wall behind the couch, Gaster led his small family through the snowy street of Snowdin Town on a course for Grillby's restaurant. Papyrus, wearing his puffy orange jacket and bright red boots, took great delight in marching behind their father, following precisely in his footsteps in the snow. Sans casually had his hands tucked into his hoodie's pockets and walked alongside his brother, beaming with amusement.

Gaster had exchanged his white lab coat for one of his black ones – when he thought about it, his whole wardrobe basically consisted of blacks, grays and whites, so it was no big surprise why his undeveloped sense of fashion had landed them with purple walls and orange trim in the first place – which, to his surprise, was almost stiff in the closet. He couldn't remember the last time he wore anything other than the lab coat. Gaster narrowed his eyes and calmly hid his hollow hands in his pockets, realizing even he couldn't ignore the little details; Asgore was right, he was in need of a break.

The tall skeleton suddenly realized he couldn't hear his usually vocal sons behind him and looked over his shoulder. They had vanished. Gaster halted and swung around, arching an eye ridge. "Papyrus? Sans? Where are you …?"

"Whoa! Hey, Dad, look! Nyeh heh!"

Gaster spun back around. Papyrus stood ahead of him, his arms carefully positioned to hold Sans on his back like a turtle's shell. Both boys grinned, Papyrus' expression looking ready to explode in his excitement.

"Sans teleported us both. We went from there to here!"

Sans' head rested on his brother's shoulder and he wore a smug grin, his eye sockets shut in fake modesty. He snapped his fingers. "Like that."

" _Really_ now?" Gaster propped his hands on his sides and feigned sternness. "You might have let me know you were ready to transport other entities."

"Aw, come on, Dad. You're smiling."

"Yes, I know!" Gaster grinned as he approached them and joked, "and I hate it."

"Well you know, I've been practicing. Really climbing the ladder, I'd say."

Gaster straightened and eyed his youngsters playfully. He calmly adjusted his coat collar. "So, you're advancing with your abilities, hm? That's good news. Tell me, how's your blaster attack coming along?"

Sans lifted his head immediately, eyes wide open. Papyrus looked on, clueless.

Gaster smirked, eyes flashing the same blue as his floating hands. He lifted an arm. The action summoned the skeletal head of some ancient creature above Gaster's body and faint power glowed from the blaster's mouth. Not enough to really cause damage, of course. Gaster had full control over that, but boy did he enjoy seeing Sans flail off his brother's back and into the snow.

Papyrus balled his gloved hands and beamed. "Ooh! Brother, look it's Dad's blaster!"

Sans sat up. "Pappy, run."

"Huh?"

The following blast made both skeletons yell and fly about six feet backwards. They yelled in mock terror as they ran the rest of the way for the restaurant, chased by a heartily laughing Gaster and the floating skeletal weapon.

A bunny monster regarded the sight with confusion and ducked aside when Papyrus narrowly avoided running her over, dragging Sans behind him by the arm. Gaster nodded and waved briefly, "Hello," and carried on with a smile.

The blaster disappeared when they reached Grillby's, a small, square building made from red and orange brick. The inside was equally plain; brown walls and hardwood floors and tables and red booths. A neon purple sign that read " _Grillby's_ " was the only splash of color in the whole room. Gaster let his shoulders relax as they entered. The fact that the restaurant was so plain and unchanging somehow made it seem far more welcoming than the colorful hotel over in Hotland. But then, the two businesses were run by very different owners. The star of Hotland was an egotistic robot. The restaurant of Snowdin belonged to a fire monster who barely drew any attention to himself other than by serving good food.

Grillby was at his usual spot at the back of the room behind a counter, dressed in a smart bartender livery. A very faint haze of pale smoke trailed from his literally flaming head. He solemnly regarded a passed out horse monster at the bar's corner, then went back to silently polishing a glass.

"Dad."

Gaster glanced down. Sans was slowly pulling out a bag of marshmallows stuffed away inside his hoodie.

His father glared. "No. Put those away and don't be asking him before you've eaten a regular meal."

"Aw, darn."

"Not a word." Gaster reached out to straighten Papyrus' scarf before shooing the boys over to a booth before he made his way over to see Grillby.

"Nice to see you again," the fire monster greeted softly, his glasses shifting up as Gaster arrived. His gleaming lens were the only indicator anyone had to go by as to where the fire monster's eyes were. He poured Gaster some water.

"Ah, yes. I know. I've been told I've been working too hard." Gaster stopped at the bar and drummed his digits against the counter. He frowned. "The king sent me home for an unspecified amount of time. Really at the most inconvenient time, but he won't listen. However, I actually cleaned the house today. First time in months, so there's a plus. Oh, the boys will want the usual."

Grillby merely nodded before disappearing into the back room. Gaster got comfortable on a bar stool and took time to notice the other monsters in the homey restaurant. Greater Dog was at a table with Doggo in a game of cards, but Doggo's eyes kept shifting warily around the room. He appeared to be losing. At one of the booths sat the newlyweds, Dogamy and Dogaressa, happily panting and lightly kissing each other's muzzles. The booth after Sans and Papyrus' held only one occupant, and that was drunk George the rabbit, his eyes forever lost to the world in twin spirals of confusion.

Grillby reappeared with fries and burgers and delivered them to Sans and Papyrus. The two skeletons became very animated in telling him all about their day. When Papyrus stood and threw his arms apart Gaster had to blink, watching as the boy teetered in place. Sans used one hand to pull him steady, casually leaning his other arm on the table while staying focused on talking to Grillby.

"What did they tell you?" Gaster asked curiously when the faithful bartender returned, setting a sandwich in front of the skeleton before lightly dusting off his hands.

"Someone with a blaster chased them through town."

"Oh." Gaster barely held back a smirk as he picked up a glass of water. "I hadn't heard."

Grillby silently returned to his glass and polishing rag. "94."

"Hm?"

"It's been 94 years since the death of Chara and Asriel. Your sons mentioned they learned about it in school."

Gaster's eye sockets widened. "My word … 94 years since then?"

Grillby nodded. "And since Toriel left."

Queen Toriel. Now that was a name Gaster could grieve over.

He thought about the queen and continued eating quietly. Ever since he had been merely a young healer, a doctor, the king and queen had encouraged him, favored his advancement and overall befriended him. After the war Gaster saw them more and more with his title as the Royal Scientist. He kept an eye on Asriel's birth and had been there when Asgore grew gravely ill during the few years Chara had lived in the Underground. While Asgore was without a doubt considered a friend, Toriel held a different role for Gaster in his memories. Because no matter what everyone endured, she never lost her kindness, her grace, her care for others. To the point of making the skeleton feel almost unworthy of her kindness. He still struggled to understand how she could so openly take in a human child as her own, but he didn't need to understand. Toriel was smart. Probably smarter than Asgore at times, though no one said it out loud for fear of angering his wife. Asgore's leadership and Toriel's good judgment fueled the Underground with hope.

Until the humans killed their son.

Asgore declared death to all humans that fell into the Underground so that their Souls would be harvested. But Toriel refused.

"It's just depressing no one has ever seen her since it happened," Gaster mused grimly. He wondered what she would say about Asgore's belief that war would resume once they freed the Underground.

He shook his head and sighed. "Toriel. We need her back somehow. I keep wondering if I can locate her."

" … Perhaps she does not want to be found."

That was a possibility. "Still, I wish I could talk to her. She always … The queen would always have the right advice for certain matters."

Grillby tilted his head slowly and watched Gaster in silence. He set aside the polishing rag and glass and slowly leaned against the counter, flaming head bowing thoughtfully. "She believed in that old prophecy."

"What do you- Prophecy?" Gaster sat up. " … Wait, about an 'angel' from the surface coming back and the Underground going empty? _That_ prophecy?"

He snorted and crossed his arms. "Nonsense. I don't base my life off of old fantasies. And besides, others thought that it held a darker meaning. No one seems to really know the truth or else make up their minds on the subject."

"Makes sense, though. Toriel chose to believe in young Chara, didn't she?"

Gaster sighed. "Well, yes, but look where that got her. An aching heart." He frowned and shrugged. "You know … I forgot about that prophecy until now."

Grillby began to clear away Gaster's discarded meal. "I overheard Papyrus talking about it. He seems very interested in humanity all of a sudden."

Gaster wasn't sure whether he knew to be amused or worried. Where he didn't want to see Papyrus' character marred with negativity toward anything, he wanted to make sure the boy understood how serious humans were as a danger to them. Hopefully that would come as he grew up. This was just a phase his mind had latched onto from learning at the library. It happened before. Sure, his obsession with cooking pasta hadn't subsided, but this was different.

Gaster sensed movement beside him and turned his head. Balancing on a stool was Sans. His eye glowed bright blue, the same colored aura surrounding a floating marshmallow above Grillby's fiery head. The bartender's back was to the counter as he sorted some items, totally unaware of his role as a campfire.

Sans flashed his dad a big smile.

Gaster snorted. In a flash he used blue magic as well, yanking Sans' blue hood down over his face. The marshmallow fell to the floor as the younger skeleton wrestled with the hood of his jacket.

Grillby turned back again. "Sometimes I wonder if the queen had the better idea all along," he murmured, his words obviously meant for Gaster. "Everyone knows she was naturally merciful and a peacemaker. After surviving the war you'd think she and Asgore would have wanted nothing to do with humanity, but they loved Chara."

"No. I still don't understand fully either."

Grillby's lens glinted faintly. "But … you're a parent now, too."

Gaster paused before nodding his head slowly. "I see what you mean." He blinked and eyed his friend in confusion. "We don't usually have such deep discussions, Grill. Have you been ruminating on the past all this time?"

The fire monster said nothing at first, but took special time to push back his glasses. "Your boys brought it up, not me."

"The whole business with Chara ended in utter tragedy, I almost wish it wasn't a part of our history." Gaster rubbed the side of his skull and glanced sideways at Sans. Gaster nodded once and his blue magic hold on the smaller skeleton stopped.

Sans' head popped up and he flashed his father an annoyed look, teeth grinding. "Dad. We're in public."

Gaster shrugged. "So what? Do you find it embarrassing to have your father mess around with you in the open?"

"Yes."

"Marshmallows, Sans."

Grillby blinked. He slowly looked up at his flames and shook his head.

* * *

"Your stamina needs a boost."

Sans shrugged from where he currently resided hanging off his father's back, much like he had been with Papyrus earlier. Now they were walking home. "Guess I got your laziness."

"Tch. I'm never lazy."

"Yeah you are. You're lazy with yourself, Dad. Ain't that why the king made you take a vacation?"

Gaster muffled a small groan. "That's not my point ..." He squinted ahead of himself. Their house sat just ahead of them, but Papyrus, who had marched ahead of them, was missing from his usual place waiting in front of the door.

"Hm. Where's your brother?"

"Saw him dart 'round back. Maybe he saw something shiny."

"Do you think you have the energy to stand on your own for a spell?" Gaster teased.

He felt Sans slide off and he relaxed his arms. The blue jacket-wearing skeleton strode off, albeit slowly. "I'll go get him."

Gaster smiled and stepped up the porch steps. He had unlocked the door and stepped inside, ready to take off his coat when Sans' frantic voice called out, "Dad? … Dad!"

Gaster's thoughts immediately turned to his second son supposedly in the backyard.

The skeleton flashed in a warp from the living room to the backyard in a split second, instantly locating Sans and darting to his side.

To his confusion, and slight fear, the boy's left eye was glowing intensely, his fists balled, arms extended at his sides, ready to fly into a fight at a moment's notice, but he looked utterly shaken and uncertain. Standing across from them, facing the snowy woods that framed the backyard, was Papyrus, and without his orange jacket.

"Dad," Sans whispered shakily.

"What's wrong?"

"It's with Papyrus."

It?

Gaster frowned and started forward for his second son. He let his own eyes glow, to be safe, and blue magic shimmered in warning from his hollowed hands.

"Papyrus."

Papyrus whirled, large eye sockets blinking in surprise. Instead of looking afraid though, he shot his father a deep frown. "Dad, no! You'll just scare them like Sans did."

Gaster hesitated. "Who?"

Papyrus stepped into the woods and moved behind a tree. His voice could be heard talking to someone in coaxing, gentle tones. Another, smaller voice mumbled back to him.

Gaster wasted no more time and stalked into the woods. He stopped short and heard himself curse in his native skeletal language, gasping in shock.

Papyrus had found a human.

* * *

 ** _Author's Note_ : First chapter ended up far longer than I had planned, but such is editing. You may notice slight changes differing from the game's plot, but this is fanfiction and creativity is encouraged. **

**Writers appreciate feedback!**


	3. Children & Villainous Plants

The human was a child really, for she was ridiculously short. Shorter than Chara had ever been. Her round face, flushed pale skin, glossy blue eyes and light brown hair all formed distinctly human features. Papyrus' jacket hung off her shoulders, almost swallowing the outfit of blue and white she wore. A single pink ribbon held a portion of hair back from her large forehead. Her wide eyes landed on Gaster and she whimpered, stepping close to Papyrus. He wrapped an arm around her and frowned again. "See? She's scared enough already thanks to Sans!"

"Bro …" Sans' weak voice called out.

Gaster opened his mouth but said nothing, listening in shocked, cold silence as his compassionate son babbled soothing encouragement to the human, letting her know that his Dad wasn't scary at all. But all Gaster could think of was that his son had found a human and had no idea the danger he could very well be in, even if it was just a little one.

Finally he found his voice. "Papyrus."

"Nyeh?"

"Go stand with your brother."

Looking confused and concerned, the young skeleton fumbled with his hands and trotted back to Sans. "She … she's a human, isn't she, Dad?"

"Yes."

Sans asked, "What are you going to do?"

The Royal Scientist regarded the small thing standing frozen to the spot watching him with wide, nervous eyes. He frowned. Without glancing back at his sons, Gaster commanded, "You two are to stay in the house until I return."

"But-"

"No arguments." He teleported the boys inside and focused on the small being before him.

She backed up a few paces on seeing Sans and Papyrus literally vanish into thin air, then let out a shriek when their surroundings changed from snow-blanketed woods to a cold, dark cave when Gaster successfully transported them somewhere else as well.

Gaster stood in the lone opening that served as entrance and exit to the cave. It was actually a non-impressive closet of a cave room, no bigger than his own bedroom, situated in a frozen cliff side overlooking a valley below in the outskirts of Snowdin. Out here they were secluded from prying eyes and most monsters stayed close to the town at this time of night.

The Royal Scientist remained where he was and firmly crossed his arms. If he were anybody else, the first thing he ought to do was inform the Royal Guard, but he believed in learning the facts first. And besides … it didn't set well with him to send the child off to certain death without another thought. Even so, he had to act quickly. He did not like the thought of his boys at home alone with the information of a human in the Underground.

Gaster demanded, "How did you get here?"

The human child backed up against the wall, shivering uncontrollably, eyes wide and trained on him. She appeared to hug herself, but then her little hands pulled out something hidden under Papyrus' jacket. Wobbling with nothing short of terror, the girl clutched a knife to herself.

Gaster tensed and glowed blue for a moment, before blinking. It was only a toy knife, made of plastic. But despite that, in the hands of a human …

What was he thinking? There was no way the little thing could defend herself, it was only for show. This was a child. She was terrified.

The skeleton crouched where he was and lifted his hands, even willing his blue magic to fade off, switching instead to a less intimidating look. "Easy. I don't wish to harm you, child, but I need to ask you some questions. Now let's try again, okay?"

The brunette continued to shiver, but she nodded.

"Good. How did you get here?"

Her voice answered just as wobbly as she looked, and in an unbearably squeaky tone, "Ran … ran away."

"You ran away? Well, that would make sense I guess," Gaster mumbled.

"R-Ran away from Miss Toriel." Suddenly her face crumpled. "I want Toriel!"

 _Toriel!_

Gaster swayed and put out an arm against the wall to steady himself. For the second time he was rendered dumb and stunned into frozen silence. Toriel! The child had seen Toriel. But where? Why hadn't the queen made her presence known? But it made sense. The Ruins were all that lay before Snowdin, and Snowdin was the Underground's first location if one wished to travel from one end to the other. Toriel must have gone to live in the Ruins, outside of everyone's reach. It showed just how much she disagreed with Asgore's decree on fallen humans. She wanted no part of the Underground he reigned over.

"Toriel found you?"

The child sniffled and nodded.

His frown lessened into a grimace. Gaster suspected where this was going. "And she took you home with her. Did she take care of you?"

His young interviewee nodded her head firmly.

"Ah, I'm sure she did. She's very nice. Tell me about miss Toriel."

He got a very plain, but clear description of the queen. Nice goat-lady in a purple and white robe with a happy voice who liked to make snail pie and read books. When he pressed if Toriel had told her anything about leaving the Ruins, the child looked away and murmured, "To _not_ leave."

Gaster nodded, humming softly in understanding. "You should have listened to her, child."

" … I'm sorry."

One look at the little girl would tell anyone why Toriel wanted to protect her. The queen stood for grace and kindness. Asgore was stuck believing they could never trust the humans again. She wanted to help and protect them; he wanted to kill them. Both Dreemurrs had their own opinion on how to handle the situation of a fallen human.

But what did W. D. Gaster think?

He sighed. Honestly he never thought too much about what would happen if they had a human fall into the Underground, knowing Asgore's belief and how grave the whole thing was. But now Gaster knew that he couldn't just stand by. There was no way in this lifetime he could willingly hand the child over to Asgore and live peacefully with himself. Not when he carried a burden from the war that reminded him how much he hated bloodshed. The Core was his version of handling their need for freedom, not Asgore's.

And Grillby had put it simply earlier; Gaster was a parent now. That fact changed him forever.

"I'm going to spare you, human," the monster informed her carefully. "Do you know what that means?"

"No."

"I'm going to help you get back to Miss Toriel. You shouldn't have left the Ruins. It's not safe … How did you leave?"

"There … there's a door ..."

"Can you remember where it is?" He spread one of his hands through the air. "How long ago did you leave it?"

She shuffled her feet. "I dunno."

"Of course ..." There would be no instant teleporting, then.

The child furrowed her brow and studied him for a long moment. She blinked and tilted her head. "Skeleton man … ?"

"Yes." Gaster offered a weary smile. "I'm a skeleton."

"You'll help me?"

Again, Gaster nodded. "Yes," he assured. "I'll help you. It's very dangerous out there for you. You're going back to the Ruins and I'm taking you there. Toriel will take very good care of you."

The child hugged herself and nodded her agreement. "She's _nice_. I miss her."

"And she likely misses you, too." Gaster looked her over for a moment. Past the shock of seeing a human for the first time in almost a century, he had the good sense to realize the child wasn't in very good condition. Papyrus' jacket wasn't enough to shield her in those flimsy clothes from the bitter temperature of Snowdin, and she'd already wandered her way through the snow for who-knows-how-long. Illness was predictable. Toriel wouldn't like that.

"We should be going now." Gaster rose to his feet. Thankfully the child didn't seem to want to resist, and actually toddled up to him, round face expectant, if a little uncertain. She nodded. "Righty."

Kids were too easily trusting. Gaster could only be relieved he had gotten to the human before any other monster.

He turned out and headed for the forest. "Come along."

* * *

There were only so many paths marked in the snow forests outside of Snowdin. The trick was figuring out which one the human had come from and seeing if there was a door hidden at the end of one. Long ago, before the Ruins had been … Ruins, there had been a large tunnel entrance connecting it to the rest of the underground caverns that made up the monster dwellings. Gaster had no clue where a door might be, and suspected Toriel must have had something to do with it. Perhaps she controlled who came and went from the Ruins.

Well, if that was the case then she'd experienced a recent flaw.

The child followed along remarkably well all things considered. She didn't bombard him with chatter like Papyrus would, and now and then the sound of her teeth chattering was the only other noise besides their footsteps crunching in the snow. But she didn't complain. He watched her walk, noting she was only growing slower the longer they went. She was growing tired.

"How long have you been out here, away from the Ruins?" he asked.

Blue eyes and long eyelashes flitted up at him for a moment. The child shrugged. "All day."

A fallen tree lay across the way. Gaster's intimidating height allowed him to step over it lightly, and he turned around to see how the far smaller girl would manage. It wasn't too big of an obstacle, but the child stopped at blinked at it. One could almost see her HP droop. She trudged forward, climbed over it and landed on the other side sitting in the snow.

Gaster frowned. "Are you all right?"

The child hugged herself, shivering madly. She scowled at the ground. "It's _too_ cold."

Gaster sighed and moved forward. "I know it is. But you'll be back with Toriel soon, and we'll get you warmed up." The skeleton bent over and lifted her to her feet. The child mumbled a small 'thank you' and wobbled onward again, leaving Gaster to blink thoughtfully. How interesting, only twenty minutes ago she seemed scared to death of him, and now she took time to say thank you?

Walking through the woods, Gaster only felt further confidence in deciding to spare the human. And Toriel would be the girl's only chance at survival now, and the kind-hearted queen would likely be overjoyed to have a child to care for again. And a remarkably patient one at that.

Minutes later and they came to a short, old bridge. "Does this look familiar to you, child?" he asked carefully.

She gave one firm nod and silently pointed beyond it. The door must be near, then.

They crossed the rather unassuming bridge with ease and the path stretched forward in a bit of length before ending in ice and rock. And a door. A tall, stone set of purple doors set between two pillars. "The Ruins," Gaster remarked in slight awe while the little human bounced and darted ahead, excited to return to Toriel. Gaster paused quietly. He hadn't seen anything related to the Ruins in so long. And to think Toriel was hiding here all this time.

The little girl had nearly reached the impressive doors when the snow in front of it shuddered. Thorny vines sprung up from the ground and climbed along the doorway, weaving a quick barricade over its surface. The brunette scrambled back a few steps with a squeak and turned wide eyes to Gaster. She flung an arm at the door, pointing at the vines.

"Yes," Gaster frowned as he strode forward. "That's strange … Back up, I'll tear them down."

"I can't let you do that," a high-pitched voice proclaimed. That said, a golden flower popped up in front of the barred doorway, smiling cruelly at the travelers.

Gaster tensed at the sight of the flower, glancing down as the human child edged back toward him, eyeing the flower confusedly. Gaster gestured at the vines. "Refusing passage into the Ruins? I'm not impressed. Who are you?"

"Oh, boy. Somebody forgot to take notes earlier. Hee hee!"

Gaster frowned. "Get rid of those vines. I don't have all night."

"And miss out on _this_? Don't you know anything, Big Head? You're escorting a human in the _wrong_ direction." The flower's expression darkened into a sinister sneer and he cocked his petal-framed head. "You haven't gone soft, have ya, Dr. Gaster?"

Gaster's frown deepened. He felt movement beside him. The child grabbed a hold of his coat hem and looked up at him. "Why's the flower talking?"

He grimaced and gently waved her behind him. "Good question." The Royal Scientist turned his attention back to the flower and tapped into blue magic. "I said get rid of those vines," he growled.

The flower only stuck out his tongue. "Nope."

"Why not?"

The flower threw his yellow-petaled head back. "Come on! You _know_ why."

Of course he knew. But he wasn't about to let a flower tell him what he already knew. Gaster's eyes shone bright. "No."

The flower had the decency to look annoyed. "But why? What's changed?" When Gaster refused to answer, he scowled. "Fine then. If you're not gonna do it … I will!"

A horrendously large grin covered the flower's face. "I'll take her Soul myself!"

Gaster raised his arm just as the flower finished its declaration, summoning one of his blasters above him. The blaster's jaws parted and a beam of energy pulverized the flower's location in a blinding show of light and static.

"There," Gaster said, his tone unimpressed. "That's dealt with." All that was left was a scorch mark in the ground, the surrounding snow melted. But the vines covering the door instantly regrew. "Now, how to deal with these vines …"

He stepped forward, thinking to try an even stronger blast, when a gasp behind him and a sinister laugh stopped him. The skeleton wanted to smack himself. _Distraction_.

"You know, you're too big in that head of yours," the flower cackled. It had the child trapped within a ring of floating, rotating seeds. The flower smiled at Gaster and winked, sticking its tongue out for a second time. "What an _idiot_."

Gaster's eyes winked between acid blue and white energy. "Don't you try it," the doctor growled.

He froze at a sudden memory. Dr. Alphys … Didn't she run an experiment on flowers once? This vicious flower causing trouble couldn't be her work, could it?

 _Whapt_!

The little girl had whipped out her toy knife while monster and flower were concentrated on each other and smacked it like a baseball bat at the flower's head. For a moment its eyes bulged and its head waved back and forth from the impact. Thinking quickly, Gaster moved his hands, bones springing up to deflect the seeds, giving the child a chance to run for him.

"You're not getting away that easily!" the flower snarled.

A second volley of seeds appeared within a split second, hurling after her. And at the same time, something seized Gaster by the ankle and yanked. He slammed face-forward in the snow just as the child let out a scream. When Gaster looked up he saw she had fallen, pressing her hands frantically to her head as blood trailed from the left side. She cried. The flower beamed a crazy smile.

Gaster suddenly knew two things.

The flower wasn't trying to kill him.

And he was angry.

In one swift move he used a bone attack to free himself from the vine around his ankle and warped to standing in front of the child in the snow, towering only a few feet away from the golden flower. The skeleton's eyes burned with magic. Two blasters materialized at either shoulder, pointing at the flower.

The flower grimaced and burrowed underground, popping up a little further away. He scowled at Gaster. "Seriously? We're supposed to be on the same side, you idiot!"

The doctor scowled. "You would kill a child?"

The flower twitched and smirked as if trying to hold back laughter. "You … You'd really protect one little human? What about all the rest? You didn't have any problems taking THEM out, didja?"

"What ..." Gaster stared at him in bewilderment before frowning. "Then you were there, in the war."

"No, of course not! I wasn't even born then."

"You were brought to life by Alphys, weren't you?" At the twisted look of unease that crossed the flower's face, Gaster knew he'd hit the right answer. His eyes glowed brighter. "So of course you weren't there. I may not understand your existence, but …" His stance turned even more threatening, arms extending sideways as bones formed, revolving in thin air.

"I will not allow you to kill this child."

The flower narrowed its eyes and grumbled. "Fine then. Play your little high 'n mighty role for a time and see where it gets ya. If you can protect the kid at all. But we both know how close we are. And we'll be so much closer with another SOUL!"

The girl's crying turned frantic in the background. Gaster tensed and snarled, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Hee hee. Well then, this should be fun." The flower laughed before burrowing into the ground again. When he didn't show up after a few minutes Gaster let his arms fall and the bones and blasters vanished. He glanced around and scanned the snow, trees and rocks one more time before he turned around and hurriedly crouched in the snow to check on the human. Worry gripped his Soul.

"Are you okay?"

The little girl was curled in a ball, still gripping her head and sobbing madly and half screaming, "It hurts!"

"Let me see-"

She pushed back his hand. "No! Don't touch, it hurts!"

"I won't touch it, but I need to see how bad it is."

"No! N-No, don't touch!" She shook her head, tears streaming down her face even as her eyes were screwed shut. Her sobs turned into panicked gasps and coughs. Gaster grimaced, recognizing hyperventilation when he saw it.

"Easy," the doctor soothed in a gentle but firm voice. He opted for laying a hand on her shoulder, slowly summoning green, healing magic. "Shh. It's all right. I need you to breathe for me, young one. Relax. There we go." Almost as soon as the healing magic made contact did the child's breathing slow. She stared up at him.

Gaster nodded, briefly smiling."That's better."

"I … I don't want you," the human whimpered with a tiny sob. She shut her eyes again. "I want my Mommy."

Gaster said nothing. He couldn't say anything to that.

The vines still hadn't left the door to the Ruins. As Gaster watched, they seemed to wind and weave themselves tighter and he scowled. "Wonderful."

"Toriel," the child murmured shakily, shifting her head to look toward the door. In the process, she removed her hand from her ear, revealing a nasty wound. Red stained her hands and head. She needed medical attention.

Gaster thought for a moment and frowned as he considered potentially taking a whack at the vines, but then the flower might come back. It sounded as if it didn't want the human to reach Toriel. It made no sense. "Toriel will be fine," he said. "We need to get you patched up."

"Am I gonna need a doctor?"

"Yes. But you needn't worry. I happen to know a pretty good one."

The skeleton monster warped them away and they vanished from the forest.

* * *

 ** _Author's Note_ : And now things only continue to get interesting. Especially for Gaster. As I mentioned earlier, I'm not aware of many stories involving one of the other Fallen humans in the game. If you've heard of any, do let me know!**

 **I appreciate hearing feedback. :)**


	4. The Soul of Patience

The basement of the house was in itself a type of lab. Though it was nowhere near as large and equipped as the lab in Hotland, Gaster's personal lab was just as important. And it doubled as a doctor's office if any of the monsters came needing his help. Doctor before Royal Scientist.

Being a monster, he had a different approach to medical care for the monster race. Usual calamities could be easily remedied by magic-infused foods being implemented into daily diets or green healing magic, but the more serious injuries needed additional care than simply magic. Especially since healing magic had its limits according to the healer's own condition.

"Hold your hair back for me, please."

The human child slowly pushed back her messy brown hair and held it from her left ear.

Since warping to the lab and being exposed to some green magic already, she seemed a little more alert and much calmer than directly after the flower's attack. She refused to lie down, so she sat on the examination table, legs dangling down over the edge. Papyrus' jacket was left on the floor, drenched wet from the snow and slightly bloodstained on the shoulder.

Gaster noticed how thin her blue dress and pale sweater were, and her black shoes were soaked through. The outfit was more appropriate for a delightful autumn picnic, not for traversing through snow and ice. He had no doubt there would be repercussions for such poor protection from the chill of Snowdin.

"This won't take too long, then we'll get you upstairs and warmed up," Gaster commented briefly, his attention on the nasty wound along the side of her head.

She watched him uncertainly. "Do I need a doctor?"

"Yes. Luckily I am a doctor." He squinted at the wound and frowned. "You've really hurt yourself pretty bad."

"Am I gonna die?"

The question prompted a small smile from him. "Not for a long, long time."

He turned to the bag of supplies and first aid kit he always kept on hand. At a glance one would find scale burn ointment, salve for furry skin and general monster aids. He pulled out a package of wipes. "I'm going to clean the blood away first, all right? It may sting a little."

She nodded once. She wasn't panicky as she had been after the flower's attack, which was greatly appreciated. He could think of a few monster kids around her age that screamed their heads off if he so much as moved an inch near them whilst the parent did nothing. Gaster had only begun removing the drying blood when the girl flinched in response.

He paused thoughtfully. "Child, what is your name?"

She opened one eye. "Tabitha."

"Tabitha, would you like to hold my hand? You may squeeze it if you'd like and if it helps." He extended a hand and after regarding the hole in his bony palm for a moment, Tabitha grabbed hold tightly and nodded, shutting her eyes again.

"Good girl."

Once he had the wound cleaned he held his free hand about a foot away from the damaged ear and snapped his fingers. Tabitha remained still and quiet, eyes still shut. The doctor frowned faintly but chose to keep the discovery to himself.

"Tabitha," he asked, "how long were you with Toriel?"

Now she looked at him. "Just a few days."

He nodded and hummed, carefully applying a healing ointment to the wounds before sealing them with white bandages. He carefully lay his fingers at the side of her head and green magic coursed from him to meet the wounded area once again. "You're lucky you didn't pass out from the attack or things could have been a little worse, you know."

Tabitha looked down at the floor.

The skeleton tipped his head slightly. "Since you told me your name I think it's only appropriate I introduced myself." He stepped back and placed a hand over himself and assumed the same type of humble, friendly doctor air he normally used when treating children.

"I'm Dr. Gaster."

Tabitha brightened a little before blinking at something above his head. She pointed quickly. "What're those?"

Gaster glanced up. His second hands were floating overhead, folded flat and calm. He smiled. "They are mine. But then, it must be very strange to see a pair of transparent hands floating around, since I doubt the humans ever reached that type of magic." He blinked pleasantly. "Or have you?"

"Gas-ter?" she repeated slowly. She lifted her eyebrows. "Knew it … Miss Toriel told me about you."

Gaster let his arms drop to his sides slowly. "She … told you about me?"

Tabitha nodded. "Yeah. When she was telling me 'bout the monsters being mean to me if I leave the Ruins, she said they're not _all_ bad and some don't even know how to be nice to me. Miss Toriel said there was a nice skeleton man, though."

And as far as Toriel was aware, Gaster was the only skeleton left in the Underground. So she must have tried to explain to the child why it was important to stay in the Ruins and fleetingly mentioned him as an ally. Even though Gaster had never really expressed hope for the humans up above, the queen somehow just assumed it?

Toriel maybe believed in him a little too much. However … he _had_ chosen the merciful path when the human showed up in his own yard. Perhaps he could relate to Toriel more than he realized.

Tabitha began to frown and reached up at her ear. "Why's it feel funny?" She blinked and looked up, suddenly realizing there was a faint glow of green shimmering in the air between her and him.

"Nothing to worry about," Gaster was quick to reassure, holding up a hand. "It's just healing magic. It will help your injury recover more swiftly. You might get a little sleepy."

The child mouthed the word 'magic' and absently covered the top of her head with her arms while watching the soothing stream with large, curious blue eyes. She slowly tried to touch it but to no luck. One hand moved to her ear.

After a long moment she jumped and gasped, "I don't _hear_ anything!"

"No, you can hear _something_ or we wouldn't be having this conversation." The doctor smiled slightly before answering, "It's just your one ear, which isn't a surprise after the strike you took." He carefully grabbed her hand and plopped it on her lap. "Best not to touch it too much."

"I'm like the deaf people." Tabitha's eyes widened a little, but in more amazement than fear. Gaster continued administrating green magic while the girl seemed suddenly interested in her hands. When she began carefully forming little gestures, a smile crossed his face. "You know how to sign."

"Like deaf people do." She signed a very slow and shaky 'hello!' and beamed at him with pride. "I know how!"

The doctor chuckled. He backed up to lean against the wall, casually folding his arms while his floating hands got busy copying the slow movements Tabitha had signed. It turned into a sort of game, the child signing something first and then Gaster mimicked with the hands.

Though despite the girl's claim on knowing how to sign, the majority of her signs were simple, easy things like 'Hello, goodbye, I love you, thank you.' Easy phrases and in no meaningful order, but it was still amusing. Not to mention it gave them both something to do while green magic was in use.

Gaster glanced away and sighed softly. Normally using green magic was of no great ordeal. Papyrus was prone to walking into doorways or tripping down the stairs and earning a dent in a bone somewhere and those injuries usually called for similar proportions of magical healing. The thing about green magic, though, is that its only limit on strength depended on the monster's own condition. Gaster knew his health had been stressed recently, and since he had taken a hit from the creepy little flower, he could feel his own energy beginning to sink. Again.

And to think he was on mandatory vacation.

By now Tabitha's eyes had a heavy look in them, but she still focused on watching Gaster's floating hands in the air. The doctor thought of something. "Tabitha, why did you leave the Ruins?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you leave Toriel?"

Her face lost all traces of tiredness, turning quickly downcast. Tabitha fidgeted sideways, looking away in apparent shame.

Gaster tilted his head and questioned slowly, "Did Miss Toriel hurt you? Hurt your feelings, I mean."

She shook her head, cringed and nearly touched her ear. "Nooooo … I-I ran away."

"Whatever for?"

She hugged herself. "'Cause I … I just wanna go _home_. Miss Toriel said I couldn't. She wouldn't tell me why, just said I needed to be patient." Her shoulders hunched and started to quake. Gaster stood up straighter, knowing she was trying not to cry.

He asked gently, "What happened?"

Tabitha rocked for a moment before plunging her hand back into her sweater pocket. She thrust a crumpled piece of paper toward him.

Gaster stepped forward, lightly asking, "And what's this you've got?"

The answer was a choked, "My letter."

The skeleton unfolded the paper and got to work trying to understand the childish words scrawled on it. All he could truly decipher was a few words, 'Tory L' and 'Sary' mostly, as well as a few scribbled pictures of a pie and a house and some stick-like figures _._ He figured Tabitha must have meant to leave Toriel the note to explain she was going home.

Gaster blinked a couple times and did his best not to laugh. He straightened his face before asking, "Why didn't you leave your note for her before you left?"

"I forgot." Tabitha sniffled, whole face crumpling. "And I took her pie."

Gaster nodded. "Ah. So she asked you to be patient and not to leave, but you left anyway … You ate some pie and wrote a note, but forgot to leave it, and now she has no idea where you are. Is that why you're crying?"

"Yeah."

Poor thing. What was sad, though, was he had no doubts of the anxiety Tabitha had truly put Toriel into right this moment. The former queen had already suffered losing two children, and likely had harbored hopes of raising Tabitha herself in the safety of the Ruins. But the human child disobeyed, wanted to go home, and ran away.

Gaster stepped up to her. "Tabitha, how old are you?"

By now she had calmed down. Wordlessly, she held up six fingers. "And a half," she mumbled.

"Six? Well now, that's much older than I would have guessed. Do you know, sometimes when grown ups aren't ready to tell you something they will ask you to be patient?"

She nodded slowly. "But I wasn't. I wasn't a good girl."

"I know. It's all right, really. There's a lot you … don't understand. And I know you want to go home."

Tabitha's eyes watched him, focused on every word. "I miss my Mommy."

" … I'm sure you do."

The doctor was quiet before saying low and seriously, "I know you miss your family, but you're going to have to trust me. I will help you to get back home, but it means you must listen to me and do as I say. Miss Toriel is right. There are monsters out there that can be very mean."

He looked her in the eyes. "So you mustn't run away from me. All right?"

Tabitha nodded soberly. "Righty."

Gaster ceased his green magic and carefully gathered up the medical items he had used and put them away where they belonged. By the time he turned back again, Tabitha's head had lowered and she was struggling to keep her eyes open.

He quirked a small, knowing smile. "How are you feeling?"

She yawned and mumbled something.

"That's perfectly normal. Let's get you upstairs."

Gaster picked her up and the child went limp once her chin rested against his shoulder. For a moment he had to pause, finding while she was smaller than his boys, she was heavier than he was used to, being made of more than mere bones.

He did his best not to think about the fact he had made the child a promise he might not be able to follow through on, for the same reasons Toriel tried to protect and shelter the child herself. It was entirely unfair the price that needed to be paid if she wished to go home again.

There was no way he could tell a six year old she had to kill a monster for their Soul in order to get home again.

* * *

Sans cocked his skull, silently watching his brother. The two skeleton monsters were in their shared bedroom and sitting on the floor across from each other. At first all Papyrus had done since Gaster warped them inside was chatter anxiously– he was worried he'd done something wrong, he worried Dad was angry, but most importantly he didn't like not knowing what would happen to the human friend he had found.

Almost immediately anybody Papyrus happened to meet automatically became one of his dearest friends. At least, in his mind.

"I know the humans weren't very nice to us in the past, but that doesn't mean they're still that way now!" Papyrus had nearly shouted while they marched upstairs. It had taken Sans a while to get him calmed down and focused on something else while they waited.

Currently Papyrus worked on a small jigsaw puzzle, but not in the ordinary way. He frowned, trying to see how he could make the pieces fit and form something new other than the picture of the Delta Rune.

Sans merely smiled and nodded. "Lookin' good there, bro."

Instead of beaming at the praise, Papyrus sighed. "Well I'm still worried."

"Yeah. I know you are, Pap."

"Dad won't … won't hurt her, will he?"

Sans looked up, taken aback. Papyrus had never once boasted in their father's fighting capabilities outside of a friendly sparring session. Violence was a rare thought to enter Papyrus' mind, let alone alongside Gaster.

Almost as soon as Sans looked at him did Papyrus wince with guilt. "Oh, of course not!" he spluttered, not giving Sans a chance to answer. He flung out his arms and continued, "Dad's not a mean monster. He _fixes_ people. He's a doctor! He'd never hurt someone who needs help."

Sans shifted his eyes. Somehow Papyrus seemed to overlook the fact he had been with a human, and the well known fact that only one human Soul had more power than the entire Underground. He could have been killed.

"So what _will_ he do? Sans?"

"Huh?"

Papyrus looked at him uncertainly, fumbling with a puzzle piece between his hands. "What will Dad do with the human?"

Sans hide a grimace. Gaster was the Royal Scientist and friends with the king. It was almost a fact that he should follow Asgore's law about capturing fallen humans.

Instead of saying this, he flashed Papyrus a comforting grin. "Dad knows what he's doing, bro. He'd do what's right for everyone."

A small thud reached their hearing from somewhere out in the hall. Both boys went still and listened.

Papyrus stood, eye sockets enlarged. "Was that … ? Did Dad just say a _bad_ word?"

Sans raised his eye ridges. They shared a look for a long moment before both bolted for the bedroom door. Out in the hall they found Gaster dragging one of the dining table chairs toward his bedroom. The older skeleton had removed his black trench coat, telling Sans instantly he had been home for a while now. And Gaster's long face looked weary.

"Dad!" Papyrus shouted.

Gaster lifted a digit to his mouth. "No shouting Papyrus, please. I know you find it hard to contain yourself-" He was cut off when Papyrus dodged the chair and threw his arms around him in a squeezing hug.

Sans slowed down and met his father's gaze. "What happened?"

"Well, about that … I was getting things ready before going to fetch you." Gaster gently pushed his son back and faced the two boys. "I've brought the human home."

Immediately Papyrus gasped and froze, joy filling his face.

Sans blinked and tipped his head. "You, uh, did what now?"

"She was injured and her HP is low. I thought it best to bring her here." Gaster thought for a moment. "We … were on our way to somewhere where someone would be better qualified to take care of a human child, but things did not work out. I'm going to have to ask you both to keep this and everything about the human a secret."

"Can I see her?" Papyrus asked.

Gaster nodded. He pulled the chair along to his bedroom door and opened it – Sans blinked, realizing his Dad was avoiding using blue magic for the moment. He narrowed his gaze.

"Are you hurt, Dad?"

"I fell over in the forest, and it's been a long day. I'm a little wiped out."

Inside Gaster's bedroom things were just as tidy and plain as ever, only with the addition of a small form nestled in the middle of the big, dull gray bed. The human's head was all that poked out from the blankets, wrapped with gauze and resting snugly against the pillow. Sans stopped just inside the room and tilted his head with a look of bewilderment. This was really a human? The stories made them sound like they were, well … bigger. Meaner. The little thing was smaller than he was, and that was saying something since he knew he was on the short side. She slept soundly, totally unaware of the monsters in the room.

Papyrus approached the bed somberly with Gaster at his side. The younger skeleton's eye sockets grew wide. He stared at the white bandages on the human's head, then turned to his father. "Is she really, really hurt?"

Gaster nodded, face grave. "Really, really, I'm afraid."

"Does she need some green magic?"

Gaster smiled softly and reached over to squeeze his son's shoulder. "Already gave it to her. She just needs rest now."

Sans nodded slowly. "I get it. That's why you look like you're gonna fall over, huh?"

Gaster rubbed the back of his skull. He pulled the chair over to a corner and pointedly took a seat.

Papyrus walked over to him, frowning. "Why is she hurt, Dad? Who did this?"

"I'm wonderin' the same thing," Sans added, crossing his arms lightly. He stared Gaster down pointedly, knowing there was no way his father could have entered an encounter against the kid only to bring her back here. So something else had proven itself to be a threat more than the human.

Gaster made a sour expression and lightly massaged his white temple.

"A … talking flower."

The boys stared at him. When he didn't say he was joking, they stared some more. Sans finally blurted, "A _whaaaat_?"

"I know, it sounds crazy, but … We were attacked on our way to the Ruins, so I brought her back to my lab for treatment and here we are."

"You know how to treat a human?"

"I lived on the surface once, remember? And I was primary physician to the Dreemurrs even when Chara lived among us."

Sans looked down and frowned. He trusted his father with his life, but some things still felt uncertain. All this time they were taught about how dangerous humans were, and no matter how much flew over Papyrus' innocent head, Sans picked up on everything. He knew the dangers, and he knew what the king wanted. Dad would only risk going against direct orders from Asgore if he truly believed he knew better than the king did …

Which meant the human didn't deserve to die.

"I wonder," Gaster said quietly. He stood from his chair, moved to the foot of the bed and observed the sleeping form. He silently held a hand over the girl and blue magic glowed gently. The human's Soul rose into view, earning a delighted gasp from Papyrus. Sans moved closer, amazed at the sight.

The Soul was a brilliant, bright pale blue, and it pointed downward. Just like history said. "Cyan," Sans whispered. "It's cyan."

At the same time the human's HP level was exposed at an uneasy half-full bar. Gaster huffed quietly and murmured, "That's _got_ to be raised tomorrow."

"Look at it," Papyrus said breathlessly. His gaze was still fixated on the floating, bright human Soul. He hesitated for a moment before looking down at himself, cupping a hand over his chest. Blue magic lit up over his digits and his own Soul emerged, a pale white upside version of the colored Soul that belonged to the sleeping child.

"Her trait is Patience," Gaster remarked with a soft chuckle. "A six year old and her strength is patience." His eyes focused on the peacefully glowing Soul for a few seconds when he suddenly trembled and made a grabbing motion at his skull. He quickly composed himself, but continued to shudder.

Sans moved up to him in an instant, sharp as ever. "Hey, Dad, take it easy. Okay? You're a little banged up too, you know."

"Yes, I know, I know. Come on." Gaster shifted his hand and the blue magic ceased. The Soul sank back into the child, who slept on with no idea what her host had examined. He led the boys out into the hallway. "I'll see you both to bed. I'll be staying with her through the night to be sure things are going well, health-wise."

"You're going to sleep in that chair? That's no fun. Maybe the human can use a sleeping bag in our room!" Papyrus beamed helpfully.

Gaster smiled. "We'll talk about that down the road, when we're feeling more ourselves."

"I feel myself, Dad."

Gaster stopped the boy and gave him a warm hug. "I'm glad, Papyrus. I'm also glad you're not hurt. Just … please, in the future if you see a human, or something you might think looks like one, tell me directly before making friends."

"Okay!"

Sans smiled, but he watched Gaster intently. He must have picked up on his thoughts, because Gaster straightened and sighed before using his serious voice, "I've made a decision, and I'm … still working out the kinks, let's say. But I'm not going to deliver Tabitha to the king."

Papyrus blinked and tilted his head. "Why not? Isn't that what we're supposed to do?" He began to count off his digits, "Find a human, befriend the human, capture the human and take the human to the capital? You know, I'm not sure what comes after that."

Sans couldn't hold back a snort. He quickly covered his mouth and murmured past his digits, "Ohh boy, Papyrus. I like hearing _your_ version of how we're supposed to do things."

Gaster, too, cracked a small smile and rubbed the top of Papyrus' skull. "Something like that. But for now, the human has to remain a secret until I know better about what comes next."

"Because king Asgore's not very happy about humans," Papyrus nodded slowly.

"Yes."

"Okay. But still!" Papyrus lifted his arm and marched off to their bedroom. "This is going to be tons of fun! Like a slumber party each night. Sans! We can show her all of my puzzles! Nyeh-heh-heh-heh!"

* * *

 _He was in the Core chamber. Or at least, the Core loomed deep below. Above it, Gaster stood facing a mightily armored human solider and his spear. But there was no fear involved. He simply watched as the scene played out; the human attacking him, the scenery blinking between the battlefields on the surface and the lab of Hotland, but always the Core stayed the same. Asgore stood off to the side sipping from a teacup, his trident leaning against him, dripping red._

 _The human's voice howled at him angrily, and Gaster realized he had pierced his opponent with a bone attack. The man looked a little different now. His armor was gone and a brown hat fluttered to the floor as he dropped to his knees, glaring at Gaster with fire in his eyes. "You monster! I swear you won't get away with this … People like you never do. You'll face justice one day, I swear it."_

 _Gaster said nothing. Numb as ice itself, he extended his arm and flexed his hand. A yellow Soul yanked free from the dying human._

"Dad, stop it. Wake up!"

Gaster jolted and froze, eye-lights glowing to life brightly. For a moment he stared in confusion, unable to understand what he was looking at or where he was. The ceiling was way up above him, and Sans leaned over his face. They were in the living room, and Gaster lay on the couch.

The skeleton let out a harsh sigh. "Did I wake you?"

"Dad, what the heck were you dreaming about? You were on the floor upstairs."

Gaster grimaced. "So you warped us downstairs."

"Yeah … How 'bout that? But geez," Sans frowned at him. "You were just layin' there, flopping yourself around and making these weird noises. Like you were talking, but … not talking. Not right like, ya know?"

Gaster slowly sat up, supporting his skull in one hand. "Did Papyrus wake up too?"

"Nah. He sleeps through everything. So does that human kid, apparently. I'm the only one who heard you."

"Nothing gets past you, does it?"

Sans lowered his gaze. Gaster then noticed his son's left eye was still faintly blue from magic. "Well, someone's gotta pay attention around here," Sans mumbled.

Of all the nights to be tormented by a nightmare, it had to be now, after the excitement of finding a human and fighting with a talking flower? Gaster sighed again and patted the couch space beside him, inviting his son to sit with him. "I promise I'm all right, Sans," he stated as Sans sat down. "I can read it all over you that you're worried."

"I don't like seeing you worked down to the bone." Sans frowned so deeply that Gaster blinked, realizing his son had totally missed his own pun. The boy continued, "Pap and I need you, Dad … I'm not stupid. I know things got pretty bad for you for the king to send you home from work. You're tired. And now you're gonna tear yourself apart worrying over that human."

Gaster frowned softly and pondered his words. "Is this resentment towards my decision regarding Tabitha staying here, Sans? It's all right if that's what you feel."

"No." Sans was quick to shake his head. "It's not that. I was scared the first time with Pappy and all, but I got a good feeling about her. It's just, what if … we're not safe …?" He trailed off and gestured with his hand. "From the others? What if someone sees her around Snowdin? Or what about Asgore? If the king finds out ..."

"Asgore wouldn't hesitate to end that child's life in the name of freeing the Underground." Gaster slumped back against the couch cushions and murmured, "We need to find another way. I think I may have one, but it may take some time."

Sans was quiet for a long moment. "So you really don't want to kill her, Dad?"

Gaster winced. Sure, maybe once the thought had crossed his mind. Or rather, delivering her to Asgore had. If things had taken a much different turn involving Papyrus, he knew he would have acted faster than time itself. He could now say, after the events he had been through and witnessed, that there was no way he needed to, or ever could, harm the child upstairs. "No. No, of course not."

" … If I ever had to face and kill a human I don't think I could."

Gaster listened calmly. He realized he could very easily point out that as a skeleton, they were some of the most unique among monsters when it came to fighting within an encounter.

"I don't know if I could ever face Papyrus if I took a life, Dad."

There it was. Gaster nodded slowly and wrapped an arm around Sans. "Well, Sans, you don't have to worry about that. I wouldn't put you in a situation where you had to fight like that. You're too young for an encounter, anyway." He pulled his son close and leaned his skull against the top of his. "You leave the worrying about fighting to me. I'm your father, it's my job to shield you two."

A relieved sort of sigh left the young skeleton. "Yeah … yeah. I know dad." Things were quiet and peacefully before Sans suddenly pulled away, his face set firmly. "And we're a family, so you're not gonna wear yourself out doing everything yourself."

"What?"

"I mean it. You'd probably throw yourself into hiding and taking care of that human the same way you throw yourself headlong at your work in Hotland. Well Dad, I _know_ you wouldn't bring a human here if they weren't safe, but I know you'll try and do everything yourself." Sans put a hand over where his Soul was and implored, "Let Pap and me help, please? We can do this together."

The scientist stared at his son blankly for a while. Honestly, when did he overlook how much Sans was growing? He was more observant every day. Already he'd predicted how Gaster was sure to handle their unexpected situation. If Gaster was honest, he'd had all the intentions in the world to carry the burden himself out of some instinct to spare the boys of whatever stresses came with housing an illegal human. But that was impossible to begin with, as she was in their own house.

"Okay," Gaster said quietly. He nodded. "I promise I won't overwork myself. I'm going to need you two and all the help I can get. It's just paramount that I find a way to fix everything without … well, without Asgore's involvement."

Sans shuddered. "Yeah. Because the last thing we need is a fresh human death to win over their trust when we break the barrier."

"Mhm."

"Papyrus can't be in a war. It'd kill him."

"I know. I won't let another war happen."

They were quiet as the grim statements faded into the atmosphere. Sans thought for a moment before smiling slowly. "Hey," he nudged Gaster. "I never thought I'd get to actually see a real human Soul like that."

Gaster allowed himself a smile. It had been a long while since he lay eyes on such a wonder himself. "I'm astounded her Soul trait is actually Patience."

"Wonder why we monsters don't have colors and traits for our Souls?" Sans grinned widely. "Heh. Imagine Pap pulling his out all the time just to see the color."

Gaster's shoulders twitched and he smiled. "At least I don't have to worry about that." He pondered for a moment before commenting, "Papyrus' Soul trait would be Innocence, I think."

"Innocence ..." Sans put his hands in his pockets and his grin softened. "Yeah, that'd be him all right."

"Yours would be Loyalty."

" … You think so?"

"Without a doubt. Come on." Gaster rose to his feet, wincing as his bones ached. He pushed his palms against his back and stretched. "We'd better get you to your room. If you're going to help me you'll need all your strength. I'll sleep here on the couch, so we both can't have any room for excuses."

"Dad?"

"Yes, my child?"

The younger skeleton appeared both embarrassed yet genuine all at once, squirming for a moment before he stood. Sans looked up at him and offered a sappy smile. " … I love you. Okay?"

Gaster's smile grew. "I love you too, Sans," he said, rubbing the boy's skull fondly. "Don't forget it."


	5. Is This History?

_**Entry 263 Personal Journal**_

 _ **It's been several months since I last updated so I will give a brief description of all that has gone by these past few months.**_

 _ **Asgore threw a party for the workers and their families. Sans, Papyrus and myself went and Sans used blue magic on the king's cape, much to my embarrassment. Asgore laughed it off.**_

 _ **Alphys gave me a birthday present and I forgot it was my birthday.**_

 _ **Two dogs in the Royal Guard are now married. I doubt it will strengthen their focus on their guarding duties.**_

 _ **The Core has been growing more and more powerful, and just recently we had an explosion – literally, too – that seems to have tied in with the Core strengthening once again.**_

 _ **Asgore banned me from work. Wants me to take a vacation. I found a human and tried to return her to the Ruins. An evil flower stopped us. I'm not sure this is what anyone has in mind for a vacation.**_

 _ **If anyone should find and read this journal they might be frustrated at my lack of description, but I'm not a writer, I'm a doctor. I'm likely the only one who will read this thing anyway, so I happen to like my style of writing.**_

 _ **Back to the situation at hand.**_

 _ **Her name is Tabitha. She is six years old, three years younger than Chara was when she first fell into the Underground.**_

 _ **I saw her Soul, and something odd happened. I felt strange at the sight of it. The boys were there and they were amazed, but I don't think they felt the same effect as I. Perhaps it's just nerves getting the best of me. That child has the power to reduce the Underground to a pile of dust with that Soul.**_

 _ **The flower's attack left her wounded and her health has worsened from unhealthy exposure to the cold. I'm ashamed to say I didn't get on top of her HP as I had hoped.**_

 _ **The morning after I went to check on Tabitha. I found the child burning with fever and unresponsive to my voice.**_

"Tabitha? Tabitha ..."

Gaster bent over the small form and wiggled her shoulder. Hot. He felt her face. Even hotter. She radiated heat almost as well as the Core did. He swiped a hand over her and peered at the HP level that showed up and could have choked. It had lowered by three points! She had been halfway to full when she went to bed.

"Idiot." He grumbled and carefully unwound the bandages covering her ear. Sure enough, the whole area was inflamed and red. Infection. The flower's strike must have penetrated more, physically and Soul-affecting, than he'd first guessed. If he had been thinking better he would have prescribed more treatment than brief magic and a band-aid.

"If you can hear me, you're going to be all right," Gaster said gently. "I'll make sure this time."

 _ **I feel horrid. I'm a doctor, the Royal Scientist, and here I've somehow failed to keep a little girl safe from a flower's flying seeds. But Tabitha was the one who had the ability to hit the little weed. Which brings me to another point that bothers me – it looks as if she hasn't got any sense about the rift between monsters and humans. It's history. What do they teach them on the surface? If she were better educated, perhaps she would have listened to Toriel and stayed in the Ruins. I don't know. If only I could speak to Toriel …**_

 _ **During the day I allowed the boys into the room for a little bit. I needed Papyrus and his quick skill with green magic. They're both very curious and interested in our uncommon visitor. Papyrus openly shows it where Sans maintains a much calmer interest while agreeing with his brother. But I can tell they're both trying not to worry.**_

"There's something I've been wondering about," Papyrus began hesitantly.

He sat on the edge of the bed, both hands carefully holding the human's as a soothing green glow traveled between himself and the sickly child. Tabitha remained in and out of sleep, never seeming to really be fully awake. Gaster was propped up in a chair beside them, his eyes also glowing green. He smiled tiredly.

"What have you been wondering about?"

"Um … well … If this human is going to be our friend, could she do what Chara couldn't?" Papyrus' eyes filled with hope. "Help us make friends with the rest of the humans?"

The wonderful statement made Gaster sit back, a small wave of realization washing over him. The idea was almost impossible … but not _fully_ hopeless.

"Maybe ..." He smiled. "Maybe."

From the doorway where he leaned in a casual manner, Sans lifted his brow and grinned. "Especially if you find another way to break the barrier, Dad."

Papyrus glanced over Tabitha for what must have been the hundredth time. "Why has the human gotten so sick?"

"Lots of things, really."

The doctor's floating hands gestured faintly beside him. "Humans need decent protection from the cold. You two don't need to worry so much about that, being skeletons, but we have no idea of how long young Tabitha wandered around Snowdin. That period being exposed to the harsher temperature probably hasn't done wonders for the injury she's got."

Papyrus hummed worriedly. "I wish she'd wake up."

"Let her rest for now. I must say I'm very impressed with how potent your green magic is becoming, son."

"Sans lets me practice on him sometimes."

From the doorway came a tight cough. Sans made a halting movement with his hand. His expression turned all the more nervous when Gaster stared him down.

"When was this? Did you hurt yourself without telling me?"

"No. Gosh, no, Dad. Just once or twice I've … um, teleported wrong."

"Teleported wrong?"

"Into walls," Papyrus explained. "Face first."

 _ **Sans and Papyrus have been good for me. Who would I be without them? Perhaps something I wouldn't like.**_

 _ **Leave it to Papyrus to suppose the best out of any situation. Some things may not register in his mind, such as the gruesome reality behind what happens if Asgore should have a human captured. I wonder what this whole world would be like if more of us supposed the best instead of being driven by fear? Papyrus and Sans have both got me thinking of my determination to use the Core to free us with more purpose than before. And now with this human, perhaps with time and patience, we'll have more understanding. Maybe there won't be a need to resume the war like Asgore thinks.**_

 _ **I suppose now all that's next is to get to know the child and make sure she understands. Getting back to work is another story, though. Asgore's got the guards on watch for me. He's too stubborn sometimes.**_

* * *

Tabitha stirred and moaned. Her whole head ached as if it were full of rocks. But she was warm now, not freezing like before. She blinked and found herself staring up at an odd ceiling. It wasn't Miss Toriel's ceiling or home. The sheets and bedspread of the over-sized bed she had been tucked in were pale gray and unfamiliar, but they were soft at least. And warm, blissfully warm.

Oh yeah! The skeletons. This was their house. Now she remembered.

"... Doctor …" Tabitha wriggled upright, feeling as if the bed were about to swallow her whole due to its size alone. "Dr. Gaster?"

"Oh, heya. You're up."

A round, fat skull poked into view from the doorway, plastered with an easy-going grin on his face. The short skeleton was nowhere near as intimidating a height as Dr. Gaster, and he wore his clothes in a lazy way. Tabitha stared, fuzzily remembering Papyrus in the woods shooing off his brother 'Sans.'

Sans whistled lowly as he came in. "Look at you. Color's coming back to your face all nice like."

He paused at the end of the bed and tapped a finger against his own, white skull. "Course, being all bone I never gotta think about not looking pale as a ghost. You pretty much had Pappy all worried, but I knew you'd pull through. Dad knows what he's doing."

Tabitha regarded him silently, recalling how Miss Toriel had said there would be monsters that wouldn't be very nice … but Sans' Dad was Dr. Gaster, the skeleton man who was good, according to her. And Papyrus was Sans' brother, so he must be good, too.

Sans tipped his head. "You sleep okay?"

Tabitha frowned a little, but nodded all the same. "I kept waking up," she mumbled. "Glad it's finally morning."

"Finally? Kid, you've been here for, like, two days now since Dad brought you home."

Tabitha's head whipped up sharply. Immediately it ached harder and she winced with a soft groan. " _Two_ days?" she repeated, gingerly touching the bandages on her head.

"Didn't you know? Well, guess it's all been a little wacky for you. Yeah, you were pretty sick, but Dad thinks you've gotten past 'the worse of it.' So that's cool."

Tabitha said nothing. She and the skeleton looked at each other for a long time. It was awkward. She felt like she was supposed to do something, but didn't know what.

All of a sudden Sans sighed, still sporting a smile. "What say we start over?" Sans walked over while she sat up straighter, watching him closely.

He extended a bony hand. "Don't you know how to greet a new pal, kid?"

Immediately she puffed up, happy to answer the amused-sounding dare from the skeleton. "Yeah, I do!" she said and shook his hand.

 _Pfffffft!_

Tabitha yanked her hand back, eyes doubling in size. Sans shook with laughter. "Oh, it's always funny. Gotcha. Look, it's a whoopee cushion, see?" He held up his bony hand, showing a deflated pink balloon nestled in his palm.

Slowly, Tabitha's mouth fell open in understanding. She began to laugh. She'd been pranked by a skeleton! The kids back home wouldn't believe this. She bounced a little and grinned. "That's funny."

Sans seemed encouraged and grinned even more. "I know, right?"

"Why're you a skeleton?"

"Huh? I dunno, you could ask my Dad more about that. Him being one as well, and a scientist, he knows tons of stuff." Sans winked. "A skele _ton_."

"Ugh! _SANS!_ " a voice screeched from somewhere outside the room.

Sans tilted his head at the door. "Whaaat? C'mon, Pap, it's true. You knew that too, _tibia_ honest."

" _Oh!_ Wait a second. Who are you talking to?"

Sans turned to Tabitha with a smirk. "Wait for it."

A banging sound and someone dashing down the hall followed before Papyrus burst into the bedroom. He had what looked like a doctor's white coat on over his sunny shirt and pants and a plastic stethoscope hung from his neck. His whole countenance lit up like a sunbeam. "You're awake!" he cried joyfully and darted over.

"Pap!" Tabitha beamed and happily reached out to accept a hug from Papyrus, who babbled, "Oh, I'm so glad! I was afraid you'd sleep forever, but Dad says you just got too cold and stuff. From now on, you can use my jacket whenever you want."

Papyrus stepped back and assumed a grand stance. "The Great Papyrus knows no such thing as cold!"

"Aw." Sans reached up and looped his arm around Papyrus. "Bro, you're _snow_ cool."

"Sans, come on!"

"I thought I heard racket up here."

Dr. Gaster came in. Tabitha studied him curiously. The doctor looked different than when he had the big black coat on. He wore one of those funny gray sweaters with the long necks. His weird white face also looked … longer. Like he needed a nap.

Gaster glanced them all over before smirking slightly. "Why didn't you come get me, Sans?"

Sans merely shrugged, still grinning. "You need your beauty sleep too, Dad."

"I can use more green magic if you want," Papyrus spoke up helpfully, raising his hand.

The adult smiled. "I envy your incredible stamina, son. No, it's all right. I'll let you know if your services are need again, Papyrus."

This seemed to fill the young skeleton with overwhelming pride as he beamed happily. "You two go play downstairs for now, please," Gaster suggested, crossing his arms loosely. "I need to give our guest a check up. Now that she's more coherent I'm sure you'll get to see her more, but let's take it slowly. All right?"

Papyrus raised a hand to the side of his jaw, his costume doctor's coat flapping about. "Our Dad's a doctor," he informed in a loud whisper.

Sans rolled his eyes, but seemed more amused than annoyed at his brother's silliness. He took him by the arm and towed him out of the bedroom. "Yup, he's the best. We'd better get back to your patients though, bro – Fluffy Bunny's supposed to be discharged from the hospital."

"Oh, right! How could I have forgotten?"

Sans did send Gaster a mildly worried look, Tabitha noticed, then the two brothers were gone. She sat back, mildly dismayed. She wished Papyrus could have stayed a bit longer. Dr. Gaster was nice like Toriel said, but he still made her nervous.

The tall skeleton pulled a small chair up and took a seat, humming lightly and seeming happy to be off his feet. "Now then, Tabitha. How do you feel?"

"This hurts," she felt her left ear. She froze and listened for a moment, ruffling her hair with her hand. She gasped. "I'm hearing again!"

Gaster looked delighted, his eye ridges lifting. "That so? Well, well. That's good news. The damage won't be permanent, though it could have been. You're a lucky girl."

He made a motion with his hand and narrowed his eyes at her. "HP is rising. Should be back to normal soon. You were rather sick for a few days, young lady. I'm afraid I was too tired to pay enough attention in the beginning."

She folded her hands solemnly and nodded. "Well, you did your best."

He smiled in a funny way before saying just as seriously, "Thank you."

"What were you looking at?"

"Just now? Your HP. I can see it when I Check you."

"Check what?"

He pressed his mouth together in a fine line. "You mean you've never …? Interesting. Look down at yourself."

She looked and yipped. Some kind of bar with letters and numbers hovered in front of her. When she tried to touch them her hand passed right through.

She looked up and demanded, "What do those things mean?"

Gaster smiled keenly. "They tell me your physical health status, as well as … other things." He looked at her, slowly tipping his long head. "Tell me, Tabitha, what do you know about monsters and magic?"

She thought for a moment. "I dunno much … Miss Toriel told me I'm in the Underground, though, and that there's monsters down here and most aren't going to be nice to me. But I shouldn't fight 'em if they try to fight me. She says if I just talk to 'em they'll leave me alone."

"Really? Huh. She would suggest that, I guess. But other than what Toriel said, what did you know _before_ you came to the Underground?"

Tabitha shrugged, feeling confused. Didn't he hear what she just said? "I don't know. Monsters aren't real back home."

No sooner had she said the words did Gaster's jaw drop open silently and his eyes flashed blue for a split second. He quickly shut his mouth, but she'd seen his body tense up.

"Why … why would you say something like that? Didn't they tell you about us? About the monsters sealed underground?"

She leaned back, eyeing him with a wary frown. She shook her head slowly. "Noooo."

That seemed to make him uneasy. She could tell, even if he had a weird face. All three of them did, really, but they still showed their feelings even without proper eyes and skin. The more Tabitha looked the more curious she became and finally asked a burning question.

"Why … um, why do you have those lines on your face?"

The question startled him out of his serious pondering. "What? Oh … my scars you mean." Gaster winced faintly and shrugged a single shoulder. "I got them in the war."

"What war?"

"What … ?"

He fixed her with another blank stare, the lights in his eyes growing small. "You can't be serious … Don't tell me they didn't bother telling you what happened. It's basically history for both our races. You know … the war. The only war."

Tabitha hugged herself and felt rather clueless. "I don't know."

"Let me rephrase my question. I'm doing my best to follow … but this? It's absurd."

She frowned. "What is?"

"Child, when you said that monsters weren't 'real' back home, why would you say that? Hasn't your parents taught you about our history? You obviously climbed the mountain, so you must have come from nearby on the surface. That means you'll have lived and grown up in the settlements handed down from the time of the war. It makes no sense for you not to have known about monsters until you came here. What do your parents tell you about us?"

Again, Tabitha wanted to shrug. She glanced away, suddenly wanting to avoid Gaster's intense gaze. His eyes were odd. Big black empty circles, one a little more slouched than the other, and instead of eyeballs those little … white dots. Almost like the ghosts on the billboards back home.

She brightened, realizing what she could tell him. "Oh yeah! There's signs and stuff in town about monsters."

Gaster lifted his eyebrows. Well, the spaces they would have been lifted at least.

"But it's just for fun, everyone says. Because, um … long ago there was a monster. My Mom said it's just a lot of tour … um, stuff for tour ..."

"Tourism?" Gaster suggested flatly.

"Uh, yeah. That. I don't get it too much, _but_ I know it's just made up stories and stuff." She nodded, proud that she knew that much at least.

Gaster looked upset, a blue-ish tint on his face. "So we've become a myth … for tourists."

All Tabitha could do was fiddle with her hands and shrug slowly. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Gaster reassured, but his voice was low and weak. "Then am I right in thinking you don't know much about magic?"

"Magic's not real, everybody knows _that_." Finally something she knew for certain.

The skeleton doctor smirked faintly and chuckled. "Really, now? Well, then. I must have based my whole life off of something make believe. I must be the only one who sees this, then."

With a simple wave of his hand, blue light glowed from his eyes and his hand, and the chair he sat on lifted, carrying him a few inches off the ground.

Tabitha stared with a small gasp. "I-I mean ..." She smiled in embarrassment. "I know _you've_ got magic, but we don't have it back home. I know. Miss Toriel uses magic, too."

"Humans do have magic." Gaster's chair settled softly on the floor. "It seems you've only forgotten."

"But I never knew about it."

"I meant your whole race, your people, in general. The war did happen centuries ago, after all. I suppose your kind must have … forgotten over time." He lowered his head and glared at the floor.

" … Can you show me, please?"

"Hm? Well I … I just did."

"No." Tabitha pointed at herself. "Do I have magic?"

His eyes grew larger and he smiled. "Why of course you do. But let's see, how to explain … I know. Don't be afraid. It may feel funny." Again he raised one hand, pointed at her and made a faint gesture, bending his fingers toward himself. Tabitha waited quietly and kept still. Then there was a glowing, bright blue heart floating in the air over the bed sheets.

Tabitha shifted on the bed, shuffling herself closer. "Ooh, pretty!"

Gaster smiled even more and explained, "This, child, is your Soul. The very essence of your being. It is you."

"Me?"

He nodded.

The heart was her? Well that made no sense. "Where's it come from?"

"Well … from inside you."

Tabitha's face fell. Suddenly she felt very cold. "Inside … inside me?" she squeaked.

When Gaster nodded once more that was it. She scooted back against the bed board sharply. "No! That's weird! It's from inside me?"

Gaster rose from his seat and motioned steadily with his free hand. "Now, now. That's … That's not what I was expecting." He flashed a brief smile. "Still, it's nothing to be afraid of. It's merely your Soul."

She bit her lip and shook her head. "I don't want it. No, no. You take it."

Gaster's eyes got bigger than she'd ever seen before and he made a choking sound before doubling over in a sudden burst of breathy laughter. Nervous laughter.

He pushed himself upright, smiling. "No, I … Oh, goodness. No, human. I'm not going to take your Soul. You've no idea what you're talking about."

Tabitha pouted and crossed her arms."Yes I do. I don't like it."

"Why? It's nothing bad. You're just unused to it." He lightly sat on the edge of the bed and carefully held his hand toward the cyan colored heart. "Your Soul is very special and belongs _solely_ to you." He paused and smirked. "I don't think even Sans has used that one yet."

Tabitha defiantly looked away. Sure, the heart was pretty, but … it came from inside her? Then it would have to go back in. And what would it do in there?

"What's it do when it's inside me?"

"It is you. It goes right along with your body and gives you special strengths magically. The color is also associated with your personal self. This light blue shade? It represents Patience." The skeleton doctor tilted his head and said teasingly, "That's an interesting trait for one at your age. My boys were never patient when they were as young as you."

Tabitha winced. "I'm not patient." Miss Toriel had asked her to be patient, but she wasn't. Now Miss Toriel was probably very worried. Like Mom.

Gaster observed her for a long moment before stating carefully,"I think that's enough learning for now. You still need your rest." His voice became a little more clear. "I'm going to release your Soul, Tabitha."

Tabitha sucked in a breath and shut her eyes, then changed her mind and opened them to look.

The cyan heart bobbed lower and faded. A slight shaky feeling tingled inside her but was over in an instant.

Gaster beamed. "There now, that wasn't so bad. We'll talk more later. You should try to sleep some more. Your head hurts still, right?"

She nodded slowly. "It hurts."

"Lie down. I want you to not think about being scared or worried. You're safe and you're going to get better. By tomorrow you'll probably be playing with Papyrus and his puzzles." He chuckled quietly and turned to go. "They're very good."

The lights switched off even though she never caught his arm turning them off manually, but a soft blue hue shone from his skull as the bedroom door gently swung shut. Tabitha inched back and did as she was told and pulled the blankets close. Never had she ever been so happy to have blankets after struggling around in the snow. Doctor Gaster was okay, she thought. Sans and Papyrus were the ones she looked forward to seeing again the most. Their Daddy seemed really nice, but she got the feeling he wasn't making a whole lot of sense. She still needed to ask him when he would be able to help her go home.

Oh well. She'd figure it out. Maybe after one more nap.


	6. Gaster's Disastrous Day

Gaster folded his hands and leaned his impressive chin against them, his arms propped up on the computer desk in the living room.

"Now then," he mumbled. "What have I missed?"

The screen showed him charts and readings direct from the Lab. To his credit he never bothered to check in on work from the comfort of his home, wanting to do his best to keep those two separate for the sake of his focus. It was no surprise to anyone that Dr. Gaster, the Royal Scientist, often got rather wound up in his projects, but this was different. With a human child to shelter and a barrier to be broken, the Core was his current lead on making sure both would end up all right.

And with Sans and Papyrus on a field trip to Waterfall, he wasn't technically neglecting their time either.

First thing was first- See what the Lab had been able to accomplish in his absence. His keyboard clicked an invite and within a few moments Dr. Alphys' scaly, yellow face popped up. Her eyes were wide.

"Dr. Gaster what are you doing? On a … a video call?"

"Good morning, Alphys. Everything okay?"

She adjusted her glasses, but they only became more askew."Um, yeah, sure. But, uh ..."

"I need to ask you a few important questions."

"I-I thought the king banned you from work?"

Gaster groaned and rolled his eyes. "I'm on vacation. However, I'm also the Royal Scientist, so he can't technically ban me from my work. Are the Core's readings still the same?"

She assured him they were still going strong. "I-I've actually been doing some, uh, thinking about it. I noticed if you look at the old files, the levels of strength in the Core have actually increased nearly five times in energy than when you first created it!"

The news brought a smile to his face. "That's phenomenal. I just need you to run some tests and figuratively see what sort of possibilities are before us. We … may not need to await any fallen humans to free ourselves from this place."

"Y-Yeah." Alphys adjusted her glasses again. "You know, it's kind of weird how it's working out like that. Don't you think?"

He hummed lowly. "While I'm still perplexed on how the Core has gained it's strength exactly, I always imagined it would grow stronger with time. That's how it was designed. Not for taking the place of seven human Souls, at least not in the beginning, but now … We have a chance now, Dr. Alphys. After all, it could be hundreds of years before enough humans fall down for us to accumulate seven Souls."

"Wow. You're really … r-really set on this, aren't you?" Alphys paused and flushed. "I-I mean, of course you are or else Asgore wouldn't have made you go home … Y-You were really pushing yourself, you know?"

"Yes. I _know_."

"It's really remarkable what you've created, Dr. Gaster. I-I never once considered to look for another way to get us out of here … other than … well, you know."

"It occurred to me recently we've been at war long enough. Perhaps it's time to find a more peaceful way to solve our problems."

The lizard scientist blinked, still blushing, then grinned broadly. "Y-Yeah! No more … No more fighting and violence and stuff … I mean, it's not like we'd really win if we did ..."

"I'll need you to run separate tests as well. Try and pinpoint where and how the Core gains a jump in its levels. Perhaps we can replicate it." Gaster rubbed his head. "I have a feeling the explosion had something to do with it, only I can't remember. Dang. We could be closer than we realize if I only had those memories."

" … You know something? And, uh, this is a little off topic, but … Did you or did you not ask me to drop a probe past the outer crust?"

The Core was made up of various layers of energy, and so far they knew survival depended on not descending past a certain point of the dubbed 'outer crust.' Due to the wild, thriving energy of the Core, it was always unadvised that anyone working around the chamber get too close or go in without safety precautions, as Asgore pointed out with Gaster's last visit. Dropping a probe from time to time helped them measure the status of the energy far better than the readings they took from outside it. The only problem was, they rarely seemed to have enough probes laying around when they wished to test it.

"I … may have," Gaster answered quietly with a frown.

How odd. He felt almost certain he had. Wasn't that why he had been there that day? Maybe? Stupid memories. Now he agreed with Asgore's determination to keep him away from work for a time. "Why? Didn't you?"

"Well, I thought I did … I was going to, but the probe has disappeared. Again."

He rolled his eyes. "Honestly, can't we hire monsters who know how to keep track of our equipment?"

"Alphys who are you talking to?"

She yelped and swung around on her swivel chair. Gaster recognized the deep, rich voice before he saw the robe and crowned, furry head.

Gaster cringed while Alphys hastily tried to cover for him. "Oh, y-your majesty! Um, hi! I was just … ummm."

Asgore's thick head bent into view, a stern frown decorating his features. "Dr. Gaster … What do you think you're doing?"

"Consulting a doctor. I think I've been having memory problems."

"You were working!"

"No. I was asking questions about work. That's an entirely different thing!"

"I won't tolerate this childishness, Gaster," the king proclaimed, shaking his head and still frowning. "You're like a youth who refuses to learn."

"No, no, that isn't it at all. And I'm not childish. This is science! Science that could better all our lives."

"And it will be waiting for you when you return."

Asgore stepped back, presumably to shut off the video chat. Alphys could be seen in the background, grinning in a highly uneasy manner and tapping her claws together. She jutted a brief thumbs up for Gaster. She would do what he'd asked.

"Goodbye, Dr. Gaster," said Asgore. The feed went dark.

Gaster let out a loud, grating sigh and leaned back, letting himself fall limp in the chair. "Stubborn. Stubborn and bossy, that's what he is," he muttered.

Light shuffling of movement sounded from the staircase and Gaster lifted his head. Tabitha stood at the bottom of the stairs, leaning forward and gazing in the direction of his computer.

She saw Gaster and hung back, gripping the banister. "Who was that?"

"You're up already?"

Quietly, Gaster decided to Check the human. Her HP had only a point to rise before hitting a full status. And since she had spent a heavy part of the morning sleeping, it was no wonder, really.

Gaster glanced to the computer. "Just a bossy friend of mine, nothing to fear. Come here, please."

The six year old frowned lightly, but she trotted over anyway. The sweater and dress she wore was now crumpled and dingy from her trek in Snowdin and then sleeping the past few days. She would need something else to wear. The thought was a little daunting. It weren't as if Gaster could walk into the Shop for a girl's dress without the townsfolk wondering and asking questions.

He put the thoughts out of his head and asked, "How's your head feel? Your ear?"

"It's fine … Better." Tabitha pushed a lock of brown hair behind the damaged ear, tilted her head and shrugged faintly. "It kinda feels like I'm … like, underwater, but I can hear okay." She nodded.

"Turn ..." He guided her head with a motioning finger. The child looked to the side and he looked the ear over, having removed the bandages earlier. "Much better, yes."

Tabitha turned back and frowned confusedly. "So, you got memory problems?"

"What?"

"You said you can't remember things."

She had listened to more than he realized. What a good thing she hadn't been in view during the video chat, and with the king no less!

"Something like that, but it's not for you to worry about." He rose from the computer desk. "Let me see if I can find you some clothes. That dress looks like it's seen better days."

Tabitha glanced down and fingered the blue material. "Miss Toriel washed it for me. She wouldn't be happy if she saw it now."

"I agree."

He was already headed for the stairs, thinking of the closet in Sans and Papyrus' bedroom. Gaster opened their bedroom door and was greeted with the usual sight of a boy's bedroom. A few puzzle boxes were stacked neatly in a corner, the bookshelf was less than perfect, a small sock pile had begun its growth next to the closet door, and only half of the bed was made. The bed frame was of a red race car. Their first bed when they were much smaller had been of a similar design, but as they aged Papyrus couldn't bear to sleep in anything that didn't look like a speedy car, so Gaster had a custom frame built to fit their sizes. Sans didn't mind. He rarely did when it came to his brother's happiness.

Well, most of the time. There was a stack of notes left on Sans' side of the bed, which happened to be the messy, unmade part. Gaster took a glimpse and rolled his eyes. "At it again, I see."

Tabitha stepped inside and uttered a quiet exclamation at the bedroom. "Whoa!"

"You'll have to borrow some of Papyrus' clothes if you're not too picky," Gaster said, at the closet and pulling out a baggy gray T-Shirt with the phrase "I'm Cool!" scribbled over it. He held it up and decided it would have to do.

"Do you have a bathroom?"

"What? Oh. Yes, of course we do."

Tabitha's brow knitted in worry. "Where?"

He showed her. Then realized it was probably a good idea if she took a shower, so he fished out towels, an old rubber duck that belonged to Papyrus, and a single bar of pink soap they hardly used. Skeletons could go a good while without a wash. He settled for filling the bathtub and leaving the rest to her. She seemed pleased at least, especially when he presented her with the rubber duck.

While waiting downstairs, the skeleton frowned at himself and his very clear predicament of not being at all prepared to house a human. And a female at that. He had already decided that at least temporarily she could have his room, the couch wasn't so bad after all. Tabitha seemed well mannered and easy going – unless she saw her own Soul apparently – but neither was she exactly openly comfortable. He hadn't missed the way she watched him with careful blue eyes, as if she were trying to figure out if she trusted him enough. She seemed to want to, but it was expected for her to display some caution.

She would be outright terrified if she fully knew just how cautious she had to be in the Underground.

"I'm all done!"

Tabitha came down the stairs slowly. The T-Shirt drooped around her small frame almost like a dress in itself. An older, smaller pair of sweatpants from the boys had been found earlier and the legs were rolled up above her bare feet to keep her from tripping over. She flashed him a grateful smile and Gaster tried to not notice how tangled her damp, light brown hair was. They didn't own a hairbrush.

"Good," he said from the computer chair. "That looks like it'll work. For now, I suppose. I'm sorry I wasn't … exactly planning on company."

Tabitha nodded slowly. "It's all right." She said it so sincerely, too. She was back to watching him again and clasped her hands behind her back. In a small, hopeful voice, she asked, "When do I get to go home, Dr. Gaster?"

There was the question he knew was bound to come up. He inwardly felt a jab of worry, but on the outside his countenance remained calm and serious. "It's not so simple, I'm afraid. Remember you promised to trust me and not to run away. You don't want what happened with Toriel to happen again, do you?"

The girl's gaze dropped to the floor.

Gaster softened his tone. "I'm not trying to scold you, child, but it is very serious. You have to keep to your promise so that I'm best able to help you get home. And I did promise I would help you get home, remember?"

"Yes."

"Okay then. I'm not sure when you'll get to go home. But I'm working on it." He stood up and headed for the kitchen. "Come along. It's past lunchtime for us, and I've been ordered that I'm on vacation. You're still on the mend. We both need some nourishment or all this time relaxing will be for nothing."

Lunch ended up having a discussion he rarely had with monsters.

He didn't spend too much energy throwing together grilled cheese, which was a common favorite for the boys, so it seemed a good guess to make for the little girl. She climbed into a chair at the table and contentedly swung her legs, scanning the room curiously while she waited. Once the sandwiches were made, Gaster had only taken a few bites of his when he stopped. Tabitha was staring at him.

He raised an eye ridge. "Um … yes?"

Tabitha's brow furrowed. "If you're a skeleton, then … you're just a bunch of bones, right?"

Technically if he wanted he could explain to her just how complex a skeleton monster's body truly was, but now didn't seem the best time to get into skeleton anatomy with a six year old. "Basically."

"You don't have any … stomachs or guts."

Now he understood where the conversation was going. "Ahh, that's true. You're probably wondering how I eat my food. Where it goes, am I right?"

She made a queasy face. "Where's it go?"

"Into me, like that sandwich on your plate should be going into you anytime now. You, as a human, along with other monsters, eat and digest your food. A skeleton 'digests' his food through magic in our systems. All the nutrients are absorbed that way, too."

Tabitha squinted and mumbled, "Magic," while picking up her sandwich.

"Yes, magic." Gaster brightened."There's a lot of that down here, you'll learn. If you have anymore questions go right ahead and ask me." He couldn't help but feel a little pleased at the opportunity to instruct a young mind on what was common knowledge down here. Information and learning was a hobby of his, anyway.

They ate silently for a few more minutes before Tabitha looked up, her eyes widening. "I got a question."

"Go right ahead."

She stared at him openly, confusion plainly wracking her young mind. "If you absorb all your food, do you need to use the bathroom to get out the stuff you don't need?"

The doctor sat in silence. He lightly pressed his forehead against his empty palm. "Well … maybe you should just concentrate on your grilled cheese for now."

* * *

The Fluffy Bunny book came to the rescue for the rest of the afternoon. The tiny house guest was content to sit on the floor beside the couch and busied herself by looking over the illustrations within the book as if they were made of diamonds. At her side sat a box full of building blocks, also fetched from the boys' room upstairs.

Gaster took a seat at his desk once more, letting out a soft sigh as he watched the child. Tabitha so far was polite, curious, but uneasy all at once. It was understandable, really, and he had a feeling she would feel more comfortable once Sans and Papyrus returned.

Gaster knew he was a rather intimidating stranger to any newcomer, human or not. It was probably a bit of a shock and a let down to go from the care and company of the motherly Toriel in the Ruins to a cramped house full of skeletons in Snowdin. Nevertheless, he felt certain in time Tabitha would adjust. Kids were good at that. He only needed to proceed thoughtfully if any sort of trust or security was going to be established for the child.

Gaster turned to his desk. "Let me know if you need anything, Tabitha."

"Okay."

He focused on making notes about the Core, jotting down thoughts and ideas that could come in handy whenever Asgore let him return to work. Several pages had been made by the time Gaster thought to check the time.

The clock showed that it was growing closer to dinner time, so Gaster pulled himself away from making notes at the computer desk and stretched his arms and neck. Time to get in the kitchen and start the pasta. Normally Papyrus was always there, shadowing him or taking over the pasta cooking himself. It was always a lot of fun, teaching a child how to cook.

As Gaster put the water on to boil he had an idea. "Tabitha," he called. "Would you like to help me make dinner?"

Silence answered him.

He peeked from the kitchen into the simple living space and did a double take. The Fluffy Bunny book was left on the floor, the blocks untouched. There was no sign of the girl. How had he missed that? Too focused on his notes, most likely. Gaster grumbled at himself and shook his head before he made his way upstairs and checked the bedrooms. Nothing. He darted into the bathroom. Still nothing.

He stepped into the hall and frowned. "Tabitha?"

No one answered. He hurried back to his bedroom and even checked under the bed, in his closet, then did the same with the boys' room. He raced back downstairs and was nearly tearing at his skull when he sensed the shift in temperature.

The front door was cracked open. It was a small crack, but open nonetheless.

"No, no, no, no, _no_."

Gaster burst outside the front door and staggered around in a circle, scanning for possible signs of which way the child could have gone.

There weren't any child-sized footprints. She wasn't even wearing any shoes. He frantically picked a random direction and hurried off, but not without slipping and falling on his knees first. He sped through Snowdin, offering brief, forced smiles to passing monsters all the while searching for signs of a human wandering around. How long had she been gone anyway? Why hadn't he noticed?

He made it to Grillby's restaurant before figuring Tabitha might have stayed away from the open path altogether. He dove around behind the restaurant and started back towards home from behind the open town road.

He half-stumbled into the snow of his own backyard with a muffled yell and was already considering summoning his blasters. They could cover some more distance and report back to their monster, if needed. It was a trick he learned over time spent in the war.

"How could I have let this happen?" he huffed, pushing himself back to his feet. He was halfway upright again when he heard the crunch of heavy footsteps in the snow and the soft crackle of flame.

Grillby stood a few paces away from Gaster, his glasses giving off a confused glint. The restaurant owner wore a silver jacket over his usual attire, likely having planned a leisurely stroll before the dinner crowd. The real shocker was seeing the recently lost human supported carefully on the fire monster's hip, face rosy from the cold and looking just as dumbfounded as Grillby's gleaming spectacles.

"Gaster …" Grillby said slowly. "What are you doing?"

Gaster stared at his long time friend, inwardly pushing back the instinctive desire to let his eye-lights dim out from bubbling stress. Grillby had the human. "I … I was looking …"

The fire monster ever so slightly tipped his flaming head. "You lost something, too?"

Even more confused, Gaster said nothing. Until he smelled smoke.

"Oh, _bother_ it all ..." He took off for the front, half-aware that Grillby followed along at an easier pace behind him, toting Tabitha still.

Gaster tore into his house and was met with an unnerving amount of steam and smoke in the living room. The pasta had boiled too long and must have run over the sides of the pan, resulting in a sudden campfire on the top of his stove.

Gaster summoned his blue magic, thinking to remove the burning stove pot as his floating hands fluttered around his head wildly and unhelpful. He first turned to the other monster, who was carefully setting a coughing Tabitha on her feet in the smoky living room. "Take her back outside, Grillby. I need to-"

He was cut off as the flaming monster simply raised a hand, silencing him.

Grillby rolled up his sleeves and strode into the kitchen. Gaster followed and watched stupidly as the fire monster stood facing the burning stove top and regarded the mini fire for a moment before raising and bringing down his fist on the stove.

 _Bang!_

The fire dissolved with a loud hiss and a puff of fresh smoke. Grillby lightly brushed off his hands and the remaining smoke in the air evaporated. He soundlessly looked over at Gaster.

The skeleton glanced down, embarrassed. "I … Thank you." Gaster's floating hands along with his true hands ticked their fingers together, channeling his humiliation. He'd forgotten Grillby's natural skill with fire. And kitchens.

Tabitha was still coughing in the background. Gaster set his jaw firmly and met the unspoken question in Grillby's odd gaze. So much for keeping things a secret.

Gaster swung around to the child, a glare plastering the front of his skull. He thundered, "What were you doing outside?"

Tabitha froze, her eyes wide. Her mouth opened in a perfect 'O.' "I-I lost … my ribbon."

"A ribbon?" Gaster gruffly smacked his hand against his skull, spluttering for a moment. "We reviewed our promise earlier, weren't … weren't you _listening_? Do you realize what you could have _done_?!"

Tabitha shrank back and glanced uncertainly between Gaster and at Grillby poking himself out from the kitchen. Her brow furrowed, jaw beginning to tremble. She rounded onto Gaster. "You didn't tell me I couldn't go _outside_!"

The skeleton doctor felt one of his eye-lights twitch within his eye socket. "Really ..."

"No you didn't!" The six year old's voice rose defensively, tears springing out of nowhere and rolling down her face.

Gaster's anger settled into smoldering disbelief over the whole ordeal. He wordlessly turned to see Grillby leave the kitchen, brushing past him where he stood tensed and rooted to the spot. The flaming monster stopped and crouched down in front of Tabitha. She was letting out a few choked sobs by now and looked up into his glasses. "What-What'd I do wrong?"

"Nothing," he answered soothingly. He fished out a red napkin from the restaurant from his pocket and handed it over to the sniffling child, saying, "It's all right to get a little confused."

Tabitha took the napkin and wiped her face. Grillby hummed in his throat and took her by the hand, leading Tabitha over to the sofa and had her sit. He waited a few minutes while the child regained control of her self and calmed down before turning, arms crossed, to stare at Gaster.

The skeleton felt as though he were being scanned in search of answers. He shoved his hands within his pockets and heaved a deep sigh. "Let me explain."

And he explained everything to his friend.

The subject of the conversation herself stayed on the couch, hugging a throw pillow to herself.

"The human was on your front porch," Grillby began once it was his turn to tell his side. He regarded Tabitha silently for a moment. "When I asked her where she thought she was going, she replied she had lost her ribbon in the basement, and wanted to find a way back in."

The ribbon. Gaster shifted his gaze sideways, realizing he'd forgotten all about the child's hair accessory. He should have known she was fond of it. "Oh. Yes … that explains why she went outside."

"I took her around back, but the basement was locked." Grillby folded his arms across his chest and Gaster could sense his friend aiming faint amusement at him. "That must have been when you decided to tear through Snowdin like you'd lost your marbles."

"I did. Tch, and you speak of losing marbles …"

"It was a metaphor, you know."

"I do know. But at the time I'd lost something for real. Something dreadfully important." Both of them turned their eyes to Tabitha. She threw them a hurt little frown and covered her face with a pillow. Gaster sighed. "I had every reason to worry. Where did you two go?"

"Back to the front door, but by then you had crashed in the back." Grillby fell silent and continued to stare Gaster down.

The skeleton flushed blue and rubbed the back of his neck. He had reacted exactly the same as if someone at the Lab had broken a vital piece of equipment or went against his _specifically_ laid plans, and gone off in a frenzy. He felt sheepish for that, but ashamed even more so because he'd allowed himself to loose his cool in front of a child younger than his own boys. Usually he was so stable when it came to setting a good example.

The real kicker was he had actually thought the day had held some progress as far as the human adjusting and trusting him.

Gaster knew what was needed next and turned to the sofa. "Tabitha …?"

Large blue eyes watched him cautiously from behind the pillow.

Gaster used blue magic and hauled one of the table chairs over and sat himself down, sighing heavily. "I'm sorry … for sounding scary earlier. I shouldn't have yelled and gotten as upset as I did. That wasn't very nice of me. I didn't mean to scare you." He raised an eye ridge. "May I tell you why I overreacted?"

Thankfully the child didn't seem like she was about to hold a grudge. If anything, she lifted her face, frowning curiously. Tabitha nodded. "M'kay."

"There's a reason I asked you to not run away from me. What I should have explained was, you mustn't leave the house."

"Not ever?"

He shook his head. "Not ever. It's not … it's not very safe for you."

The six year old dropped the pillow across her lap and stared, almost about to cry again. "Why?"

Gaster held back a wince, trying to display gentle patience. He was beginning to see what Toriel must have put up with. The child wasn't grasping the reality of how dangerous it was for her. He thought of an example, grim as it was."What do you think would happen if I were to show up in your home and went outside?"

Her face slowly drained of color. She dropped her gaze. "People'd hurt you. Really bad. They'd be scared."

Grillby made a disapproving sound.

Gaster shut his eyes briefly. "I am sorry to have had to lead you to think of such things, but there are certain monsters that would take you away. And they wouldn't be helping you. They would be very, very mean." He waited a moment before stating calmly, yet firmly, "You understand?"

She looked him in the eyes before nodding slowly.

Gaster offered a small smile, head tilting faintly. "Good. Are you feeling okay?"

Her brow furrowed. "I dunno."

"All right." Gaster rested his chin in his hand and was quiet for a long moment before his head swiveled over to find Grillby.

The other monster had vanished. Pots clanging into the sink sounded from the kitchen. Gaster blinked and headed over to find Grillby hard at work straightening things up, discarding the burnt materials, wiping down the stove stop. He murmured, "I won't tell anyone."

Gaster's eye sockets widened before he smirked faintly. "No. Of course you won't."

"Anyone with any sense knows that little one's not a threat."

"She's afraid of her own Soul."

" … You're joking."

Gaster laughed and shook his skull. "Nope. And you needn't mind the pasta sauce – I'll get back to it myself."

Grillby turned and fixed him with one of his blankest gleams. "You ran up and down Snowdin and nearly burned down this house. I'll gladly cook your dinner if it means it'll prolong your life, Gaster." He made a point by jutting a finger in his direction. "You're stressed."

Was everyone determined to point that out to him? "You … have a point."

The front door flew open and in came Papyrus, arms raised, face home to a massive smile. "Dad, we're home!" He marched over to hug his father, then perked up on noticing Tabitha seated on the sofa. "You're awake!" He promptly hugged her too, then held her out at arm's length. "And you've got some of my clothes on. Wowie! I knew my fashion sense was popular down here."

"He didn't say anything," Sans was quick to reassure Gaster, nodding with his usual smile toward his brother and the human. "Kept giving me these little looks, though. But he did his duty and nobody found out the secret."

Sans turned his head and his eye-lights blinked out of sight on seeing Grillby poke his head out of the kitchen. "... Um … why's he here?"

"I'm the local fire brigade," Grillby deadpanned and got back to cooking.

Sans raised an eye ridge and craned his head into the kitchen. He pulled back, eye sockets wider still. "What happened to the stove? It's burned up."

"Not entirely. I'd say about twenty percent," Gaster judged after a quick look for himself. He winced, realizing the ridiculousness in the fact that his two sons, one being especially excitable and talkative, had managed to keep the human in their house a secret, while he, their father let alone the Royal Scientist and one of the most well-known geniuses in the Underground … failed ridiculously. To add to the dumbing fact, Grillby sent him yet another flat-looking gleam of his glasses.

Gaster turned to face his boys. Sans stood watching him, half-frowning and nearly smirking all at once, trying to determine whether to be amused or concerned. Papyrus stood beside Tabitha by the couch, his eyes bright and confused. Tabitha hugged herself and watched Gaster with a furrowed brow.

The adult skeleton heaved a sigh and smiled wearily. "Stop looking so worried, all of you. Everything is fine … well, now it is. But we need to sit down and have a talk about how things have to be from now on. For all our sakes."


	7. Sleepovers & Shopping

Bedtime at least held a bit of normalcy and peace.

" … the rest of the woodland creatures were all there to welcome Fluffy Bunny home from his adventures …"

Gaster had easily slipped into his clear, passionate reading voice as he read from the story book he already knew word for word. He and his sons sat on the sofa, Gaster on one end. Tabitha sat in a ball balanced on the couch arm on the opposite end, staring over at the picture book right along with a starry-eyed Papyrus beside her. He was loyally adorned in his best red pajamas and bunny-print socks, squishing a pillow to himself as he hung off of every word Gaster read. Sans was sprawled against their father's side, eyes closed, a relaxed grin on his face.

The doctor couldn't keep a smile out of his voice as he read aloud. The book always had the same calming effect. He half wondered if it were magically infused. The stress of the day seemed almost like a dream now.

"The end." Gaster shut the book.

"It's such a good story," Papyrus enthused with a little sigh. Tabitha nodded, a smile spreading across her young face.

Gaster gave a tired grin, patting Sans' shoulder as he commented, "I hope you never grow tired of it, Papyrus. And I'm glad you like it as well, Tabitha. It's a tradition of sorts, me reading to us all before bed."

"I like it," the child assured softly. "Miss Toriel read lots and lots to me."

Papyrus turned to her with a delightful gasp. "Does your Dad read you stories too?"

"No."

Sans shifted and slowly sat up, his face dragging itself into a grin. "Guess it's bedtime, huh?" He yawned and wagged a bony digit in the air. "Don't worry 'bout a thing, Dad. I'll take care of everything."

Gaster hummed in his throat and actually let his skull sink back against the sofa. "I think I'll take you up on the offer, Sans."

He stayed put on the sofa as Sans led his brother and their unusual guest up the stairs. Papyrus waved and called, "Night-night, Daddy!" until they were entirely out of sight.

Gaster shuffled forward, but didn't stand just yet. He leaned to the side, frowning and inhaling. The faint scent of smoke still lingered, clinging to the couch fabric. Not very pleasant, but the sofa was still fine for sleeping at least. Perhaps he could find a means of dealing with the leftover smoky smells and slightly blackened stove in the morning.

The skeleton made his way to the front doorstep of his home. Grillby was there, wearing his coat again. Gaster narrowed his eyes. The fire monster wouldn't have stayed for so long unless he had things to speak to Gaster about and wanted to keep it from the younger ones. He shut the door behind him. "Sorry. I took my time with them."

Grillby's bright head tipped forward calmly. "And you should."

Gaster rubbed the back of his neck and shifted his gaze to the side before sighing. "I … I owe you massively, Grill. You saved the evening for us. Not to mention our dinner."

Grillby gave yet another simple, agreeable nod. His voice asked as quietly as ever, "Are you going to be able to handle this, Gaster?"

He lifted his head a little and met the probing stare. "Yes. Of course. No one else can."

"The stakes are higher than normal, old friend," Grillby whispered.

He didn't voice it, but Gaster knew what they were both thinking. Should Tabitha be discovered, it not only meant her life would certainly end, but such an event would affect the skeleton household, the boys and Gaster. The longer she stayed, the harder it would be to lose her. He had to prevent that at all costs … Papyrus would be crushed …

The skeleton waved his hand weakly, but his tone was determined. "Well, what else am I supposed to do? The human's only a child, and completely unaware of our history. You were right, you know. About Toriel, and how I've been changed by being a parent. I could never just let …"

"You made the right choice." Grillby nodded once more. "Maybe slow down more. The boys are growing up. Sans has your maturity, though he likes to hide it under jokes and pranks. He's a good helper. You've already admitted you made a mistake today, and younger ones tend to trust an adult who admits they aren't perfect." He tipped his flaming head at him. "Kids are stronger than they look. The human will be all right, so don't stew yourself in guilt."

"I'm aware I can be hot-tempered at times."

Flames crackled flatly. "Was that a pun?"

Gaster shrugged and shifted his weight. "I don't know. Perhaps? After all, you're the one telling me to move on, so why shouldn't I try and change the subject of our conversation?"

His comment seemed to reassure the fire monster. They shook hands. "Let me know if I can help," Grillby stated, then turned and walked off into the dark, snowy street.

* * *

"Sans?"

He stirred, slowly coming out of deep sleep. He half supposed it was his brother and forced his eye sockets open sooner than they would have liked. Fuzzy darkness swarmed his gaze even as somewhere in the back of his mind he registered it was not Pappy's voice and it had been years since his brother woke him up during the night.

Something nudged his forehead. "Sans?"

"Ungh, huh?" He turned over and squinted. Tabitha's face was only inches from his, her expression worried, eyes wide.

Sans stiffened just from surprise. "Whoa, oh, hey kid. Uh … what's the matter?"

In a very grim voice she told him, "There's a monster under my bed."

"What?" He sat up and stared, suddenly very awake. "You saw somebody in Dad's room?"

Tabitha shrugged, but her face held a frown.

Sans sighed and swung out of his shared bed with Papyrus. "Okay. S'okay. I'll go check it out. You coming?"

She shook her head and stayed planted next to the car-shaped bed frame.

Sans trudged slowly down the hall and into his father's room. He switched the lights on and listened, hearing only silence. His eye shifted into blue, just as a precaution, and because tapping into magic helped him focus. The space under the bed was bare and clean thanks to the purging they had done a few days ago. The closet was organized and void of any monsters. No one hid behind the curtains.

"Uh, kid?" Sans asked as he returned. Tabitha hadn't moved and watched him intently. Sans stopped in front of her, a quizzical look on his skull. "Nobody was there."

"Nobody what?!" came Papyrus' voice, and they both jumped. Papyrus sat up, head covered by a red nightcap, his favorite sleeping mask over his eye sockets. His head turned toward Sans' direction. "Brother, why are you awake and talking to yourself?"

"Tabitha said there was someone in her room."

Papyrus ripped off his mask and blinked. "What? Well, that makes no sense."

"Yeah. I checked." He turned to the girl, lightly crossing his arms. "There's no one in there."

The six year old hunched up her shoulders and dropped her gaze. "Well …"

The brothers glanced at each other. "Human," Papyrus started and patted the space next to him. Tabitha climbed in and sat in a tight ball, attention on Papyrus as he asked gently, "Are you just scared? Is that why you made up your claims that we had an uninvited house guest?"

"Under the bed."

"No one's there, trust me," Sans replied. He blinked and scratched his skull. "Kind of a weird thing to say, you know. A monster under the bed."

"Sans, she's too little to know if she's saying weird phrases!"

"Okay, okay." Sans leaned against the car-shaped bed frame. "She's just scared. Nothing wrong with that, but at least there isn't _really_ someone hiding under Dad's bed. That'd be just creepy."

"And rude!" Papyrus threw his arms into the air. He froze suddenly and burst into a smile. "I've got it! Sans, where are the sleeping bags?"

Sans raised his eye ridges before grinning and winking. " _Eye_ see what you're getting at, bro."

" … Really? It's not even daytime! How can you _still_ think about making those ridiculous puns?"

Tabitha giggled.

"Well, someone likes my jokes."

Papyrus pouted and covered the little girl's ears. "Don't listen to him, human! And don't encourage him either."

Tabitha pushed his hands away, laughing some more. "But he's _funny._ "

Sans smirked victoriously and dragged out a sleeping bag from the closet. "Kid _nose_ good humor when she hears it," he said, tapping the center of his skull where nostrils would have been just to earn another batch of giggles from the human and a despairing groan from his brother.

* * *

"No, I suppose it's fine. If that's what you three agree on."

Papyrus as usual was the first to respond joyfully. "Hooray!" he threw up both arms before turning and enveloping both Sans and Tabitha. "We get to have sleepovers every night!"

Gaster simply smiled. He made no mention how he had found them all during the night in a little circle on their bedroom floor atop sleeping bags, fast asleep.

The human pulled free of his son's exuberant embrace and stepped forward with a small smile. "You can have your room back now."

Gaster nodded. "It looks so, yes. Thank you, Tabitha."

He should have guessed a child at her age and in her situation would feel more at ease sharing a room.

The morning moved onward, and as the adult skeleton shifted his attention to the needs of the house he discovered they were out of laundry detergent. He scratched his skull and stared at the mountain of dirty laundry that had grown in the upper hallway and wondered how they could have run out of laundry detergent in the first place. It looked as though they barely did any laundry to begin with.

Gaster emerged downstairs, busily floating his black coat from a peg on the wall to his awaiting hands. "I need to go to the Shop today. Right now, actually."

Papyrus darted in from the kitchen, still wearing an apron and dish washing gloves covered in soap suds. "I want to come!"

While Gaster shrugged into his coat he turned to Sans. The younger skeleton had crafted a little fort out of the couch cushions and a blanket. He oversaw as Tabitha sat on her knees, engaged in a very animated game of play with a handful of Papyrus' old toys, a superhero-dressed action figure that looked suspiciously like king Asgore, an old, battered feline knight in discolored armor, and a baseball glove the child used as a boat for her little play.

Sans wagged his arm out of the fort. He held a sock puppet with mere black dots serving as eyes being the only sign it were a sock puppet at all. "We'll be fine, Dad. She's gonna put on a play for me, or something."

Gaster laughed gently. "Enjoy the show."

"Asgore's the princess," Sans whispered with a grin.

Okay, he had to laugh harder at that. He watched Tabitha thoughtfully, and once Papyrus bounded down, dressed and ready to go, they headed out into their little town for the Shop. Papyrus immediately latched onto Gaster's hand and chattered the whole way, but true to his dutiful Soul, the youngster didn't once bring up anything that had to do with their human house guest out in the open.

Shop itself was small and cozy, but happened to hold a good deal more than one first would imagine. Papyrus requested a cinnibunny the moment they entered.

The bunny monster behind the checkout counter crossed her arms and smiled. "Well, if it isn't Dr. Gaster himself. Alive and in color, too. Haven't seen you in awhile."

"No, I have been busy."

"Anything you need in particular?"

"Laundry detergent."

She pointed a paw towards the back of the warm store. "Please, be my guest and get the sherbet scent. We've overstocked on sherbet scented detergent and it's driving me crazy."

"Thank you for the suggestion," he answered with a small chuckle.

He made sure to add a sherbet scented detergent to his shopping basket, but selected a plain one, as was routine. The sherbet could always be used for a fun science experiment with the boys. They always enjoyed that. And perhaps Tabitha would find it interesting if they made a sherbet-scented volcanic launcher …

Papyrus grabbed his arm and hauled Gaster over to the toy area, but instead of delighting himself over a brand new jigsaw puzzle or word scramble book, he pointed at a doll on the shelf. "We should get Tabitha a toy! She asked for a princess, but I had to confess that I, the Great Papyrus, don't have any princess toys."

The doll was a white, plush horse monster in a glaringly bright pink ballgown with a tiara and sparkly wand attached to a sparkly hoof.

Gaster had to blink several times before he could reply. "Uh … well, that's a good idea, however ..."

Papyrus' gaze seemed to have grown even more bright and innocent. He tipped his head questioningly. "What is it?"

The adult skeleton stared at the blindingly sparkly toy and gingerly picked it up. He shifted, glancing back over at the counter where the bunny waited. If she asked, they could simply say it was a gift for one of Papyrus' friends. But Gaster had to wonder if the crazily pink toy was really desirable to begin with.

Minutes later they stood at the checkout counter with two bottles of detergent, some air fresheners and one very painfully frilly and sparkly doll. The Shopkeeper stared first at the doll, then at the two faces before her, one all smiles, the other nearly blank.

Gaster coughed. "And, um … three cinnibun, please."

* * *

"Ohhh!" Tabitha stared, awestruck as Papyrus presented her with the doll and who could blame her? Nothing so bright and pink had ever entered the skeleton house. She scrambled out of the little fort in the living room and scooped up the doll. "She's _beautiful._ "

Sans crawled to his feet. He took one long look at the frilly doll and snorted. "It's beauty is making me go blind."

Papyrus ignored him, face lighting up. "Really? You like her?"

"I love her." She threw her arms around Papyrus. "Thank you!"

The boy turned his head to Gaster beside him, having just magically floated his coat back to where it belonged. Gaster began to smile as his son stated heartily, "You should thank Dad. I found it, but he got it for you. He's the best Dad ever!"

Tabitha stepped back from Papyrus and looked up at Gaster. He wasn't sure which tugged at his Soul more, the fact her eyes gave away how happy she was or that she didn't hold a grudge from last evening. Sans would have at that age.

Tabitha bounced over and gave him a hug as best as her small height and short arms could allow. "Thank you, Gaster."

The Royal Scientist stood still, oddly silent as he stared down at her. "Grillby was right," he murmured and slowly smiled, ruffling the child's nut-brown locks. "You're welcome, child." He supposed she really was living up to her Soul trait if she was no longer bothered by what had happened yesterday.

The little girl moved back, her young face somber as she hung her head. "I'm sorry for making you mad yesterday."

Gaster knit his brow. Quietly, he corrected, "No, I wasn't mad. I was only overreacting. I … I do that sometimes."

"You weren't mad?"

"I was worried." He paused thoughtfully and crouched down. "Do you know that sometimes people will act or look like they're mad sometimes, when they're usually not on the inside? Usually worry pushes people to act a certain way. How have Sans, Papyrus and I acted since you came, Tabitha?"

The human frowned in thought. "You were kinda scary at first … but then you were nicer, and Miss Toriel likes you. Sans and Papyrus are nice, too." She beamed. "And you helped me when I was sick."

"He's a doctor," Papyrus pointed out, head held high.

"Thank you, Papyrus." Gaster's smile faded slowly. "I'm sorry I made you so upset yesterday, Tabitha. You're very new to this world and I should have made some rules more clear to you. I'll try and be a little more patient." He chuckled softly. "Goodness knows you've been far more patient than I have."

She shrugged lightly, not seeming to really catch the weight of his praise while she poked at her doll's sparkly wand. "I just thought you were gonna hit me."

Gaster and the boys all looked up, deadly silent. "What?" he whispered.

Tabitha's eyes flitted up briefly before focusing on the doll again, carefully smoothing down its poofy dress. "My Dad … my Dad hits when he's mad. Thought you were gonna do it too."

"... You know, I think that's enough sad thoughts for today." Gaster lifted the bag from the Shop and made a point to grin at the youngsters around him. "I've got a bag full of cinibunnies."

Immediately Tabitha became interested and followed him to the table, the boys drifting behind.

Sans and Papyrus shared uneasy glances with each other as they took their seats. Gaster made faint, yet firm shaking motions with his head and his floating hands made a ' _Zip it_ ' gesture. For a moment Papyrus continued to look confused, likely not quite putting all the pieces together when it came to what Tabitha had revealed. Sans, ever the mature one, casually began making puns and immediately distracted his brother.

In the 'discussion' that followed between the two boys, the older skeleton pondered the seriousness behind Tabitha's casual statement. To his amazement, he had momentarily forgotten the truth behind the reasons as to why they were stuck underground and who had put them there. And while Gaster was only beginning to understand the path of violence was a chosen one, not designated by race alone, he couldn't help but feel he was being given an ugly reminder of their plight.

Humans were strong, after all. If human parents stooped to the low, atrocious level of striking their own children, then was it any wonder why Chara had left the surface? Just what kind of world would they find when they broke the barrier?


	8. Playing with Magic

"How can you not understand what magic is?" Papyrus exclaimed with confusion. "Everyone knows what magic is. Allow me to demonstrate!"

Blue magic chimed, and Tabitha's mouth fell open in a delighted gasp. Sans now floated in the air of the upstairs hallway, a faint blue haze surrounding him as he flashed a lazy grin at the two. Papyrus stood proudly. "See? Completely harmless! Blue magic allows me to move things or grab them. It renders the recipient unable to move themselves. Well, most of the time."

Papyrus frowned and tapped his head before swinging towards the railing connected to the staircase and shouted, "How's it go again, Dad?"

From the living room below, Gaster's voice replied, "In an encounter, if a person is under blue magic, if they have the strength they can move, but it's usually limited because their personal gravity is being manipulated."

" … So they can only jump up and down!" Papyrus declared, turning back again and smiling. He released Sans, who flopped on the floor and made no moves to pick himself up.

Tabitha stepped closer and peered at the skeleton. She giggled. "He's sleeping."

"Um, that is, if they're not sleeping."

The girl stepped away from where Sans lay on the floor and thought about what Papyrus had shown her. Magic was so new and different for her. A sudden idea hit her and she asked, "What color is your Soul?"

"My Soul?" Papyrus again sounded confused. "Boy, you don't know anything about this, do you? Not to fear, for I, the Great Papyrus, am delighted to instruct you! Look, my Soul's colorless. So is every monster Soul." He looked down at himself, hands moving over his chest. His Soul gently came into view for Tabitha to observe carefully. She blinked and stared at the pale, upside down sort of heart. It looked so … simple.

Papyrus put it away and fiddled with his fingers. "Er … Can I see your Soul again, human?"

Tabitha thought for a while before setting her face in all seriousness. "Can I pull it out on my own?"

Papyrus nodded enthusiastically. "Try thinking about wanting to see your Soul. That's what Dad told me when I was still learning."

Within moments, Tabitha froze as her Soul slid into view, all bright and glow-y. The girl and Papyrus both stared in starstruck wonder for the longest moment before Papyrus cheered, "YOU DID IT! I'm such a good teacher!"

Tabitha bounced on her toes. "Can I … Can I use blue magic, too?"

"Uh, I don't know. And it takes a lot of practice ..."

She hummed sadly and put her Soul away. Quickly, she thought of another idea. "... Can you make me fly, Pap?"

"No one's doing any flying for now," Gaster interrupted firmly from somewhere downstairs, making it very clear he was listening. "Perhaps a puzzle would be a better option."

Tabitha's shoulders began to sag when something tapped her on the head. She turned to see Sans had finally gotten up, his usual grin holding a note of playfulness. "I got an idea."

A few moments later, Papyrus stood in front of a bean bag they had placed outside of Gaster's bedroom. He hunched over, fists balled excitedly as his eyes watched his brother at the other end of the hall.

Sans grinned. "Watch closely, kid."

Tabitha looked from him to his brother. Sans' eye blinked to blue and he extended an arm. The other skeleton across the loft-like hallway glowed blue and was knocked backwards onto the bean bag, laughing gleefully.

"We've been doing this since he was real little," Sans explained. He smirked. "I've always been on the shorter side, so we judge the time by how much he's grown more than me."

"Nyeh heh! Sans' blue attacks have always been better than my own." Papyrus jumped up from the bean bag and ran to them.

Tabitha widened her eyes hopefully. She quickly cast a glance at the banister railing, recalling what Gaster had said, but technically it wasn't really flying, was it? Oh well. She rounded onto the grinning skeleton. "Can you make me fly, Sans?"

"You wanna fly?" he asked, pretending to be amazed at the question. "Geez, kid, don't you know humans are meant to stay on the ground?"

"Sans, she merely wants you to use your blue magic!"

"Huh? Blue magic's for moving things, not for making kids fly." As he spoke his eyes flashed again and Tabitha rose several inches into the air with delighted laughter.

Sans continued, "I mean, flying takes wings most of the time, but I guess we can bend the rules a little." With that, he flicked his wrist and sent Tabitha across the hall and into the bean bag. She squealed the whole time and was barely able to contain her laughter as she flailed and pulled herself upright. "I wanna do that again! Please?"

Sans winked and the process happened all over again, with Papyrus joining in. At one point, Tabitha clung to his back like a backpack while Sans sent the both of them through the air to bounce against the bean bag. They rolled off, cackling their heads off.

Gaster's voice reached them loud and clear from downstairs. "What are you all _doing_ up there?"

Papyrus rushed to the railing and called out, "Nothing!" before turning on his heel and outright tackling Sans in a bear hug. Tabitha laughed and scrambled to the side as both skeletons crashed into the awaiting bean bag.

All of a sudden she was behind Papyrus and Sans stood at the other end of the hallway, panting, but grinning. He pointed at them, a challenge in his expression. "I want that bean bag, Paps."

"Never!" Papyrus declared passionately. Tabitha glanced at the bean bag on the floor behind her. Thinking quickly, she scampered around behind it instead, unable to stop giggling as the brothers challenged each other.

Before long she had a front row seat to some sort of magical bone fight. Actual bones! Some were blue, some were white, but both Sans and Papyrus seemed to be using them. They tossed bones at one another, Papyrus cackling and making heart-felt announcements about his fighting skills. Sans mostly dodged, grinning as usual and offered a clever comment now and then. This only seemed to spur Papyrus on even more, until ...

 _Whirr_!

"Brother?!"

"Oh gosh, Pap!"

 _BRANG_!

Tabitha slammed her palms over her ears and screamed. When silence followed she carefully lifted her head and peered over the bean bag slowly.

Sans leaned against the wall, eye sockets black as he clutched at his chest, panting. Papyrus was a few feet away, frozen with an arm lifted, his eyes bulging from his skull. Situated between them and facing the open air over the living room downstairs, was a blaster wearing a loopy expression.

"I didn't know you could do that," Sans whispered with a weak laugh.

Papyrus beamed, though his voice shook a little. "I … I didn't either. Cool!"

That was when firm footsteps pounded up the stairs and Gaster's scarred face came into view, expression stern and worried. Tabitha shuddered and looked away, fingering the T-shirt she wore and feeling guilty, even if she hadn't made the big noise or the blast. She knew what that look on Gaster's face meant. She'd seen it in Mom's face many times.

The sweater-wearing skeleton crossed his arms and asked in a voice that wavered between disapproval and overwhelmingly calmness, "What happened?"

"Uh …" Sans rubbed his neck. "Heh. We were sparring, Dad."

Gaster stared. "Indoors."

"I attacked first!" Papyrus waved his hands and Gaster turned to him. "And I … I summoned a blaster, too. My-My first time ever!" He lit up proudly before deflating a little. "Um, but … we should have sparred outside instead."

Tabitha frowned, finally gathering her courage and stepping forward. She tugged at Gaster's sleeve and when he looked down with a questioning gaze she stated softly, "It was my fault, Dr. Gaster. I made Sans make me fly."

Gaster very slowly lifted an eye ridge. "You 'made' him make you fly?"

"Uh huh."

"Totally," Sans added, and Papyrus chimed in, "The human's very persuasive, Dad!"

Gaster blinked. He looked from one youngster to another. "Evidently I need to spend more time with you two in training," he said to the skeletons, the phrase making Tabitha's brow furrow. "Training?"

"You're not, uh, mad?" Sans asked over her question.

Gaster shook his head with a light sigh. "No, no. It's only natural the two of you practice your sparring, and I should oversee your progress more often now that you're both getting older. You need more practice, Sans. Allow me to demonstrate."

He turned and blue magic engulfed the bean bag. Two seconds later the bean bag zoomed across the air and plowed into one very surprised Sans. The skeleton was flattened completely beneath the bag. Tabitha tittered while Gaster's amused voice added, "But you mustn't let your inexperience get you _down_ , my son."

Sans stammered under the bean bag, likely laughing himself. Soon the bean bag was flying in the direction of Gaster's voice. Sans rolled over only to blink, finding that his father stood tall and calm and unharmed, the bean bag toppled beside him. Gaster chuckled.

Sans grinned. "Oh, it's on."

They continued to play out a mock fight, Sans being struck with the bean bag multiple times, Gaster usually avoiding his son's attacks with ease. To Sans' credit he did manage to topple his father at least once. Tabitha stuck close to Papyrus on the sidelines, watching in fascination as the adult skeleton leaped and dodged as if the whole thing were a dance he had memorized. While Sans seemed to move with more force, Tabitha could tell he was doing his best to learn from his father's movements. The whole thing was so different than anything people did back home. She wondered why pretend fighting was something they did at all … Or why Gaster seemed so good at it.

"You have to dodge the bones, but the blue ones you have to stay still and wait them out," Papyrus explained to her, gesturing as Gaster merely lifted a hand and blue bones lined up, heading steadily for Sans.

Sans eventually managed to knock his father down, but only by avoiding the unvoiced decision to stick to only magic and bone attacks. He dodged around blue bones instead of sitting still and tackled Gaster's legs, earning a surprised shout. Gaster flailed his arms and staggered backwards as he lost his balance and they both went down.

Sans lifted his head and grinned down at his father's face. "Give up?"

"That was cheating," Gaster poked his skull.

"You knocked me over with a bean bag, remember?"

Tabitha, seeing that the fight was over, bounced over to peer at them both, asking brightly, "Where's the bones come from?"

For some reason, both the younger and older skeleton turned confused white faces to her. Gaster sat up as Sans rolled off him. "That's a bit hard to explain, Tabitha. It's quite normal by monster standards, but if you humans haven't passed down the right history …" He shook his head. "Let's simply say it's all _magic_. All right?"

"Well, where's the magic come from?"

"From us!" Papyrus exclaimed happily, rolling the bean bag into the bedroom. Tabitha watched him with a frown and looked to Sans, but he just looked at her normally.

Gaster got to his feet and flashed her a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry, you'll learn all about magic," he said, patting her head.

He started for the stairs and Tabitha heard him say softly, "You'll understand someday, I hope."

* * *

They had just gotten downstairs after straightening up the loft from the 'battle,' and Papyrus ran for the kitchen eager to start his turn at making dinner – baked spaghetti for a change – and Sans trailed after him slowly. The shorter boy shrugged his shoulders. "Whew, I think I'll need a nap soon."

"Don't you nod off before you've even had a taste of my delicious creation, Sans! You need to feed yourself, and what better way than with my cooking?"

Gaster's eyes followed his sons and he couldn't help but take a moment to be thankful again in how they were his. His own little family. He began to join them but stopped and turned, seeing Tabitha had paused at the bottom of the stairs. "Something the matter, child?"

She lifted blue eyes up. There wasn't a drop of wariness or carefulness in her face this time. She frowned a little in an embarrassed way and dropped her gaze, lightly fidgeting a foot against the blue floor. "You're Sans and Papyrus' Dad … But, umm, what about their Mom?"

He blinked and quickly smiled in understanding. "Ah, I see. It may be confusing, but … well, being a skeleton, we have … alternative ways of reproducing." He doubted someone her age even understood or knew her own race's version, but he saw no need to hide the details of skeletal reproduction.

He stepped forward and crouched, holding up his long, bony hands for her to inspect. "You've noticed I have holes in my hands, haven't you?"

The child nodded. "They don't," she pointed towards the kitchen where the boys had vanished off to. The sounds of dishes and cooking utensils clattering against the counter drifted into the living room.

"No, they don't. I separated a fragment of each … Well, to put it simply, I used a piece of myself to create my sons." The answer made Tabitha look at him curiously. Gaster used a fingertip to poke at the hole of his other hand. "It's all right, touch it if you'd like."

Tabitha calmly grabbed one of his hands. He rested one elbow on his knee and kept the other hand still for her as she examined the hollowness of his palm. The girl lifted amazed eyes. "You … made them?"

"Yes. I did."

He could have gone on about it. Not many in the Underground had ever bothered to ask for the details of his boys' coming to life. Those who had enough sense could guess just by looking at his hands, for it was common knowledge that skeletons that wished to start a family would remove a piece of themselves and that piece was the blueprint to a new skeleton. Yet, unlike other monsters, it was a rarer occurrence. Skeletons lived far longer than many monsters. Reproduction wasn't really a must. But the war changed everything, wiping the skeletons out until there was only one.

Tabitha tipped her head, pulling her fingers out of the hole in his hand. "Why'd you make them?"

"I wanted a family of my own. I got lonely."

The honest answer made her look away, but not before Gaster caught the darkness in her innocent face. "I wish my Dad was like you. I like your family lots."

A deep frown formed on his features. "You shouldn't say such things about your parent."

"Well, he hits." She looked up abruptly and there was a dullness in her young eyes Gaster hadn't seen before. "He hits for real."

So she was comparing the little, joyful play battle to her own life situation and it didn't take Gaster's brilliant deduction to know things were less than happy or secure in her family setting. But she wanted to go back home. "What does your mother do?"

Tears welled in the child's eyes and she hugged herself, looking more like the frightened child he'd interrogated in the cave.

"Never mind. You don't have to answer that if it upsets you."

"I-I _miss_ her ..."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry." She had no idea how sorry he was, all things considered.

Gaster put a comforting hand on her head and would have changed the subject to the sounds of brotherly jesting and puns coming from the kitchen, only the child surprised him by lunging forward and putting her short arms around him. Gaster hesitated briefly before hugging back, gladly giving her as much comfort as she needed. Who knew how long she had gone since the last time? Likely Toriel. Children at Tabitha's age needed to be shown love and care. All he could do was guess that the mother must have, since Tabitha missed her dearly.

"You're safe here, you know that, don't you … Tabitha?"

She nodded, her face pressed against his sweater.

Gaster hoisted her up in his arms and headed for the kitchen. "All right. Let's try and think of good things now. You will return home one day, Tabitha. That's a promise."

"I know." She mumbled. "I'm gonna be a patient girl."

Gaster smiled his approval. Inwardly he shook his head at himself. When and how would he ever be able to tell her the truth? That in order for her to leave she had to kill. Or, if anything, she would need to wait an unknown amount of time for the Core to break the barrier. Her young mind probably had no way of understanding how long she could truly be stuck in the Underground, because he wasn't fully sure himself.

At least he was sure of her security with them.


	9. Hidden Horror

"Dr. Gaster." The yellow and brown scaly lizard monster sitting on the table of his lab/basement looked up at him in utter worry. Gaster could bet that if Monster Kid had arms he would have been fumbling with them. "Am I gonna die?" he finished.

The skeletal doctor snorted. "Tch. I'd say not. What were you doing anyway to earn yourself such a wound?" Gaster glanced over the monster child's reptilian tail, the tip being bent at a painful looking angle.

Monster Kid looked away. "Oh … nothing. I was just hanging around in Waterfall and, um, slipped."

Gaster smirked. "Onto your rear?"

"Yeah, basically. Oh, but don't tell my parents!" He threw his head back and groaned. "Gosh, they'd kill me if they found out I had to go to the doctor today."

The doctor rolled his eyes lightly. The injury needed correction, and that meant more pain. The patient would need some sort of distraction. Gaster glanced around his makeshift office and frowned, not seeing anything particularly useful. He sighed. "Very well. MK, I'm going to reset your tail."

"Huh?"

"And it's going to be painful, but only for a moment."

"W-Well, can I hold your hand then?"

Gaster stared at him wordlessly. Well, he stared at his mouth, that is. Monster Kid realized his limitation and blushed. "I-I mean, yeah, of course I can't. Can't I hold onto something?"

"Uh ..." Gaster's gaze flew around the room, looking for something suitable. He finally snapped a hold of blue magic onto his desk and the thing zoomed up next to the table, papers flying. He braced himself, trying not to think of teeth indentations on the wood. "Clamp onto that, if it helps."

Monster Kid quickly lowered his head and snapped his jaws on the edge of the desk. Gaster positioned himself, hands expertly feeling where the bone in the child's tail had dislodged, and he began to count. "One … two … three." Within those three seconds, he worked the bone and prodded it back into place. Monster Kid stayed silent and slowly loosened his jaws once the ordeal was over, taking a deep breath.

Gaster dusted off his hands and commented brightly, "There. You handled that rather well."

"YOWWW!"

The skeleton's shoulders leaped for the ceiling. Gaster staggered momentarily before straightening himself again with a cough. "Like I said, perfectly fine. How's it feel?"

"It's all better!" Monster Kid jumped to his feet, still on the examination table and swung his tail around, beaming as it wiggled effortlessly. "You did it, Dr. Gaster!"

"Of course I did."

"Hey, do you have any lollipops?"

Gaster chuckled playfully. "No, you and everybody else knows I discontinued handing those out. The boys kept raiding my stash."

Monster Kid hopped to the floor. "Oh yeah. Can I say hi to Sans and Papyrus?"

"Um, no. Not today."

"Aw, all right. Thanks, Dr. Gaster!" He hurried for the stairs leading outside and called, "Remember, don't tell my folks I was here!"

"Stay out of trouble," Gaster countered with a wave goodbye.

With his recent patient on his way, the doctor turned back to his desk and focused, pushing it carefully across the floor and back to where it belonged. The scraping sound as the desk was pushed along was interrupted by an odd _thump_ as it struck something on the floor. Gaster shifted around the desk to find one of the drawers had fallen out, probably when he'd moved it in haste for Monster Kid.

He bent over and reached for the drawer, only his eye caught a risen area in its corner. His floating hands snapped their fingers. "That's right, I have a hidden compartment," he murmured curiously.

He set the drawer atop the desk. Funnily enough, he hadn't used the hidden part in a long time. Originally he'd had it designed for storing important documents, but it soon lost that role when technology gained momentum in the Underground. Computers were now a main source of storage. Well, he could always find a new use for the drawer. Like hiding candy for the younger patients.

He removed the papers in the main compartment before prying at the corner, popping the hidden part open. He removed the false bottom and froze.

"What in the name of … ?"

What was he looking at?

The deep compartment was not at all empty. A pair of worn gloves tied together with a bandanna; a tutu and ballet slippers tucked together neatly; a purple notebook and a pair of cracked spectacles; a frying pan and a stained white apron; a pistol and a stetson hat. All the items were random, and he'd never laid eyes on them before.

Utterly dumbfounded, Gaster could only lightly finger the fabric of the apron. The moment he felt the soft material between his bony fingers a sudden memory sprang to life in his mind's eye as if a hidden compartment had been unlocked there, too.

 _A young human, a man with sandy hair and large, trusting brown eyes had worn the apron. The boy had held the frying pan and watched Gaster intently as they stood within the harsh atmosphere of the Core chamber. Gaster could hear the human's wavering voice as clear as a bell._

" _Doctor Gaster? What is this place?"_

Gaster bent over, leaning all his weight against the desk as his mind whirled, trying to make sense of the previously unknown memory. If it was a memory it all. No, it wasn't- he remembered now, that scene had been part of one of his nightmares about the past. Only now he seemed to recall the events far more vividly and with further detail than before. But he had never laid eyes on the apron until today, so how could he have remembered it being in a dream? It was unsettling. And then there was the rest of the random items hiding in his desk. He had no memory of them.

A slip of white paper stuck out from the bottom. Gaster pulled it out and unfolded the note.

 _Do Not Forget._ The doctor frowned. "My handwriting."

He scanned over the items before pulling them all out and arranging them on his desk. Thankfully, contact with the other items didn't bring any odd visions to mind, though he couldn't help but feel a strange emptiness on the inside. He looked them all over again, searching for any signs of identification. Something nagged at his brain. He knew this wasn't right, somehow … And then he found a clue.

On the underside of the ballet slippers was handwriting. _2091 Applegum Blvd, Sadie Kemp._

Gaster's limbs began to shake and clatter softly. He dropped the slippers, suddenly feeling his energy leaving him. It was an address. An address from the human world. From the surface!

"Hang on. Hang on ..." He turned and sat himself in his office chair. The bones of his legs were rattling too much for him to continue standing. "Get a hold of yourself, old fool. It's not … it's not that shocking."

After all, human items found their way into the Underground sometimes. Usually through the trash system that collected naturally in Waterfall. A water source from the surface brought discarded objects from the humans into the mountain. This was one of the ways monsters learned about the whereabouts of life above. Alphys practically spent all her free time searching the garbage dump for human entertainment shows and the like. And yet, Gaster still didn't feel at ease. Because he would have remembered going to the dump and collecting the items. And he had no purpose with them. And why did he feel the need to hide them? Then there was the note. What needed to be remembered and what did it have to do with a bunch of random human items?

One thing was certain. There had not been any other humans in the Underground beside Chara, and now Tabitha.

There couldn't have been others. The notion was impossible.

Wasn't it?

"Think," Gaster groaned, groping at his skull. "You did this. Why can't you recall what it's for?"

This was the second time he was aware of suffering from a memory problem. At least he knew the explosion in the Core had a role to play, but this time he couldn't think of an excuse. Could the memory problems be connected? How?

Someone knocked at the basement's door. "Hey, Dad? Can I come down?"

Gaster sat up. _Sans._ He hastily swept the items back into the drawer and attempted to shove it back into the desk. When it protested, he sent it across the room with blue magic and threw his own white lab coat over it. "Yes, come on in."

Sans walked down the steps with a bright expression across his skull. "So, Papyrus and Tabitha worked together and got dinner all ready. It's a little messy up there, but they're really proud of themselves. Monster Kid leave already?"

"Yes. Yes, he did."

"Huh. Would've liked to say hi." Sans blinked at the sight of the desk and lifted an eye ridge. "You rearranging the furniture or somethin'?"

"No, never mind that. I still have to put it back."

His son studied his face for a moment and he narrowed his eye sockets lightly. "You know, that expression on your face, Dad … if I didn't know any better I'd say you looked scared."

Gaster frowned defensively and yanked the hem of his sweater into a more orderly position. "I am not."

Sans outright glared and stepped forward, thrusting out a bony, accusing finger. "You're the one always telling us _not_ to lie! You're upset about something. I can tell. Don't …" Hurt flashed across the boy's skull. "Don't lie to me, Dad."

The adult skeleton froze, taken aback. Sans was growing more and more frank when serious matters prompted him. It didn't line up with his casual, almost lazy mannerisms Gaster was so used to seeing. He sighed. "You're getting far too perceptive for comfort. I blame myself, though … I never miss anything. Until … until now it seems."

Sans relaxed and lifted a confused eye ridge. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I've been having memory loss. Not a lot to be worried over," he said quickly at Sans' sharp intake of breath. "It's very minor. Only two occasions so far."

" … That you know of."

The doctor frowned and rubbed his chin. "Hm. You have a point."

Sans was quiet in thought before saying, "If it's not a big deal the why're you still worried, Dad?"

"I don't like not knowing things. I have no reason to be losing memories. These," he gestured to the twin scars meeting each eye socket, "have nothing to do with it. I would have had trouble early on."

Sans fumbled with one of his arms and glanced away. He mumbled in a thoughtful tone,"So … you're gettin' the feeling you can't remember something, too?"

"Feelings, hints …" Wait a minute. Gaster's eyes flashed onto his son. He straightened to full height and demanded, "What do you mean 'too?' Sans? What's wrong?"

Sans winced and ducked his head, wearing his nervous grin. "Uh … I-I've kinda wondered the same thing."

Gaster walked up to him and grabbed his shoulders gently, but he couldn't keep the concern out of his voice. "What do you mean? Explain to me. Explain as best as you can."

"Well … I've just been having these weird feelings. Kind of like … I should know something. Almost feel like we're being messed with. And I keep thinking about …" Sans sighed and looked embarrassed, as if he didn't believe his own words. "Our time line."

"Time line …?"

Sans shrugged. "I get these feelings randomly, but as far back as I remember I … know they've happened. Something seems to be missing. I asked Pap once if he's had any weird feelings, and he didn't have a clue what I was talking about. Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one, and if … I dunno. I don't get it." He looked up at his father, eye sockets pleading for some sort of reassurance. When he spoke it was barely above a whisper.

"Dad … can something be forgotten from time?"

Gaster hummed, turning his son's words over in his head. He would do his absolute best not to give his son anymore hints at the alarm slowly building up within him. Right off the bat Gaster was suspecting some sort of overlooked ability – or disability – was at play, and maybe he'd passed it down to Sans during his creation. Maybe.

"Sans, have you … ever sensed perhaps that there may have been other humans besides Chara and Tabitha?"

"Huh?" Sans looked up incredulously. "Dad, what do you mean? Humans … I dunno. I don't think about that, but it just feels like stuff's missing. That's all."

"All right." Gaster nodded slowly. "I'll have to do some research and think this through. But you were right to tell me, Sans." He cupped the side of Sans' skull in his hand. "I'm glad you told me. I don't think it's unimportant. Perhaps we'll both find out what this all means."

Sans looked uneasy. "Can monsters sense stuff like that?"

"I'm not sure." He pulled Sans close in a quick embrace and rubbed his back. "We'll figure it out, though. I'm not the Royal Scientist for no reason, after all."

Sans looked up, back to smiling easily. "You just gotta find a way to get back to work without the king kicking you out."

Gaster chuckled warmly, glad for his son's attempt to lighten the mood. He never failed to. "Yup. Now let's go see about that dinner you mentioned."

* * *

 _He stared across the woods at the sight of snow-blanketed devastation. The battle had happened quickly in the night, and it was almost a blessing that the fallen ones were veiled by snow. However, it didn't hide the fact that there was quite an alarming amount of dust spiraling with the snowflakes and drifting into piles. Gaster did his best not to shudder as he trudged on. He needed to reach the king's camp. The battered skeleton knew he was in shock. He hadn't expected to come through the night alive, but it seemed his skills had gotten even better the more he fought. He paused silently and Checked himself. There was his EXP level, risen from the lives he had ended. In turn, his LV had gained a whole point from the collected EXP. Feeling almost numb from the sight, he dismissed the status and did his best to carry on and not think about the version of himself that had pleaded not to go to war. "I don't think I can kill anyone," had been his words to the other skeletons._

" _You'll learn," was their answer. The king had seemed forlorn at that._

 _Gaster's foot struck something hard within in the snow. A man's broken helmet. Whimpering sounds drifted from somewhere ahead of him. He moved further, taking quieter steps. Soon he spotted the source of the sound. A human child was on his knees in the snow beside a half-frozen body of a man, weeping, head bowed against the dead man's chest._

 _Gaster could only watch in silence. Agony weighed on him like an invisible chain around his shoulders. This was why he didn't want to fight. Not because he thought he couldn't inflict damage – his attacks were strong, being a skeletal monster – but because he knew it would poison the outcome._

 _His Level of Violence had increased. The child before him had lost his father. Poison._

 _The boy's head lifted and he jolted up, spying Gaster. They stared at one another, one in shock, the other slowly raising his hands. "I'm not going to hurt you," Gaster stated lowly, yet clearly._

 _In complete disregard to his words, the boy snatched up his father's fallen spear and plowed through the snow. Gaster balked, surprised and unable to bring himself to draw his own sword. He did not even have a moment to protest when the lad struck his right eye, screaming, "Die, monster! Just die!"_

 _Gaster saw wild dots spinning in his eye. He stumbled back, then to add even more shock to his injured skull, the boy hit him again, across the other eye. Gaster finally howled as the pain registered against his senses. His vision was swimming and failing him._

" _I'll kill you," the boy growled. "I'll do it!"_

 _Gaster made out the tip of the spear aiming for his throat. Instinctively, blue magic flashed and his second pair of hands grabbed at the spear, yanking it aside. The perplexed boy stood shocked as a blaster formed and shot him with blinding energy._

 **99999999999999999** -

Gaster awoke in his bedroom and sat up, his eyes scanning over the dark, familiar shapes of his room even as he told himself it was just a dream. Another nightmare. Yes, a memory of the war, but it was over. In the past. He was safe again.

He groaned and felt his skull, specifically tracing the lines on either side of his face created from that day. That human child's strength had been surprising, fueled by his hatred and grief. Was it any wonder Gaster been hostile and slow to understand why the royal family took in a human child?

Well, he couldn't judge them, having done the same. But this was different. And the war was a very long time ago. Things had changed and were still changing.

He remembered the items in the basement and frowned. "Now that's a puzzle I'm not sure I want to solve," he murmured. Gaster lifted his head and massaged his neck in an attempt to clear his mind. Tomorrow he would try to video chat Dr. Alphys again. See if she had any results from the tests.

Just for reassurance and to ground himself, he summoned his Check status. Lately he only ever bothered to hastily check his HP, as that was usually the greatest of his personal condition. HP was normal, just where it should have been. As for the others …

Gaster felt himself go numb for the first time in centuries. Skeletons couldn't truly get cold, but this time he was certain he would freeze.

His LV had increased. By one point. A direct cause from a strengthened EXP. As he gaped at the shocking status, it blinked back to the numbers he had seen the last time he'd bothered to pay attention. The usual LV number he had carried with him since the war. But his EXP was shivering. He began to frown and nearly asked aloud, "What's going on?" when the status flickered again, back to a higher LV.

 _What_?

Gaster waved away the numbers and leaned his skull in one hand. "Remain calm," he commanded softly. "Just calm down. It's obviously just a … just a mistake."

A mistake was it? Yet it made no sense. Nothing like a flickering EXP and LV level had ever been recorded before. Was he hallucinating it? He felt his head, felt his scars. Normal. As they should be. No pain. His darkened bedroom seemed too dark now. He wanted the artificial 'daylight' of Snowdin's streetlights to return. As his mind whirled and demanded answers he couldn't find, the room seemed to close in on him. The memory loss. The human items. A risen Level of Violence … _Oh, no._

A scraping groan escaped him and the skeleton shook his bones before rising and leaving the room altogether. He slowed his steps as he neared the boys' room, quietly turned the handle and peeked inside.

The lamp had been left on at their desk, bathing the room in a soft, warm glow. Sans and Papyrus's forms could be seen in their bed, Sans' arm hanging over the side while he snored softly and Papyrus' eyes were covered neatly by his sleep mask, a content smile on his face. On the cot on the floor beside the bed was Tabitha, nestled under a blanket and sound asleep. The sleeping arrangement gave the little newcomer some sense of security, and the boys absolutely rolled with it with all the compassion and kindness in the world. "A sleepover every night!" as Papyrus had announced it.

Gaster quietly entered the peaceful room, silently using blue magic to prompt the lamp to dim and shut off. He stood at the foot of his sons' bed and observed them. Nothing could help ground him more than reminding himself of what he had now, of what he had overcome, and how dearly his family meant to him. Even if the need and desire for his sons had been born out of loneliness and a very dire need to save the race of skeleton monsters, it had led him to living the best life he had ever known. As a father.

Sans' explanation of his 'feelings' about things being missing came back to him as he stared at his son, currently oblivious to all cares in the world, a soft grin plastered on his face.

His gaze turned to the human on the floor. Thinking back, he'd felt a little odd himself when he saw Tabitha's Soul. He had dismissed it at the time, but now he could almost be sure that he understood what Sans had meant. A feeling as if something were missing. Lost? A lost memory maybe. Of a human Soul?

"I'm not sure what this means for any of us," Gaster admitted aloud, though barely louder than a whisper. Nobody stirred or woke. He continued quietly, "But I know that no matter what happened in the past, I won't allow it to affect our future freedom."

He stepped in and tucked Sans' arm back in bed and flicked the end of Papyrus' nightcap out of the way of Sans' skull. He looked down at Tabitha. The small form asleep with her pink horse doll pulled close portrayed nothing but innocence compared to the child in his flashback of a nightmare. It would be a wonderful thing if Tabitha truly did become their bridge to the world above. Gaster focused on that hope as he left the room rather than the confusing matter of his unstable LV.

* * *

"Dr. Alphys."

The yellow lizard monster jumped and spun in her chair to face Gaster, holding a bowl of steaming noodles, cheeks bulging with food. She made a muffled 'Eek!' sound and hastily swallowed what was in her mouth. "Dr. Gaster! Y-You're back. Are … Are you back?"

He hadn't bothered to wear his white lab coat and stood blankly while Alphys stared at his jet black overcoat. "I, uh, I've never seen you without your … Well, never mind. What are you doing here? Have you come back to work?"

He thought carefully before pulling up another swivel chair. "No. But I need to ask you some important questions. I need a second opinion."

As predicted, Alphys flushed and swung around in the chair, distractedly putting down her bowl and attempting to straighten her work space. "I-I dunno, maybe you should ask s-someone else, especially if it's that important."

"You're the right person or I wouldn't have come to you."

She didn't look quite convinced, but turned herself back to him. "O-Okay. I guess. What is it?"

He hesitated for a long moment, unsure of how to express the question exactly. He frowned and couldn't seem to lift his gaze off the floor. "I've recently been wondering about a complex theory … What would you say to the idea that something … an item, a memory, even a person … could be forgotten entirely?"

Alphys tilted her head. "Huh? Dr. Gaster I'm not … not sure I follow."

"If something could be erased from time, could there be any possibility of somebody sensing it were gone?" He gestured a hand vainly. "As a sort of paradox, perhaps. You can't remember something that never was, after all. But what if you could?"

"What if you could …?" Alphys blinked and squinted and Gaster knew he had made contact.

Gaster waited patiently as she pondered, yellow brow furrowed while she lightly tapped a claw on the counter. "Well … I'd say it would be considered an anomaly. If you take something and erase it from existing in our reality, then it makes sense for us not to remember it. But if we did anyway, then … yeah, it would be a paradox."

"What are the chances of such an ability? To recall, or be aware, even if faintly, of something that no longer exists?"

Alphys tapped her chin and frowned. "I'm no expert … but I do have an opinion since we're talking about it. If the person is the one erasing something, and it's supposed to have existed without their interference, maybe that would be a hint for how they could recall it. Because naturally time doesn't erase anything within itself. That would have to be a decision made by someone living in their current time line." She blushed and shrugged her shoulders. "But-But it's just a theory."

"And it's a good one," he responded faintly. His mind digested Alphys' idea.

After a few quiet moments had passed, the yellow monster asked, "Where did this come from, Dr. Gaster?"

He looked up and smiled slightly. "Simply a notion on my mind. I really came to find out if you ran those tests like I had asked."

Alphys bit her lip. "Uh, yeah. I did. Uh ..." She typed into her keyboard and pulled up files and charts. "I studied and tried to find a probe to send in, but … the results don't make much sense to me, honestly."

He crossed his arms loosely. "Go on."

"Well ..." She adjusted her glasses. "As far as figuring out what could have caused the Core to grow stronger to equivalent the strength of a potential human Soul … I just don't know what else could do it."

Gaster's hands gripped the fabric surrounding his rib-cage. "Can you … explain yourself a little more clearly?"

She sighed. "Well, I don't know how we can replicate the jumps in strength. The Core is already a unique creation. You made it to sustain itself and power the Underground, but these jumps in strength always seem to just … happen. And I can't figure out what causes it."

"Truthfully it did bother me, but I always ignored it. I was too excited at the possibilities it could mean for us."

"I-I know. You want to make it grow stronger again, but in order to do that ..." Alphys knitted her brow in concern. "I'm not sure what else could equal the strength of a human Soul other than another human Soul itself."

Gaster stared at her silently. Moments ticked by for the two monsters. Alphys dropped her gaze.

Gaster finally ended the silence. "Do you think there's human Souls in there?"

"Wh-What?"

Alphys gasped and jerked up, knocking her glasses askew. She clawed at them shakily and flushed. "N-No. No, of course not! We would … we would have known about that."

"Yet you yourself believe the only source with the type of power to have boosted the Core in the past, according to the charts and your tests, is a human Soul itself."

"Well, that's as far as I've gotten so far," she replied firmly.

Gaster narrowed his gaze, quietly demanding her full attention. "But it confuses you. Doesn't it?"

Alphys bit her lip and nodded slowly. "I don't know what else could be giving it that type of power. For now," she added hurriedly. The lizard frowned, her eyes suddenly sparking stubbornly. "After all, Asgore would have told us."

"Told us what?"

"If he's killed any humans and put their Souls in the Core." Immediately she winced and threw herself at the desk, covering her head with her arms. "I-I know, I know. It's silly, paranoid thinking."

"Indeed it is," Gaster agreed in a firm voice. "An entirely impossible notion. You'd best just forget it."

"Oh, I will," Alphys looked up with a cheesy smile of relief, buying his suggestion without any further thought. "Yeah, yeah … Um, so what do you want me to focus on?"

"You've spent enough thoughts on the Core in my stead. Give yourself a break. You've earned it. Perhaps focus more on a personal project?"

Alphys grinned. "Y-Yeah! I-I do have one in mind ..."

Gaster nodded and rose to his feet, idly slipping his balled fists into his pockets to conceal they were shaking. "Good. Let me know if you need my help, as you've helped me very much."

"I doubt that, but thanks!"

Gaster left the room and headed for the large windows that looked down into the Core chamber. Skeletons may not posses actual stomachs, but he was almost certain he could feel whatever he'd consumed for breakfast churning within his bones. Alphys was right, to a degree, no matter how you looked at it. Thankfully she didn't accept the facts fully. And true, there were still some holes, some details he didn't understand, but things were becoming frightfully clear.

"We both know Asgore would have no need to kill humans and use their Souls for the Core," he murmured, stopping at the window to gaze down at one of his most successful creations. Asgore was never one to shy away from a plan. He stuck to his word and routines like clockwork. If he declared all humans to be brought to him for execution and extraction of their Souls, that was how it would be done.

But Gaster … if he had the chance, what would he do?

The various human items in his basement were beginning to tell a story he didn't want to hear.

 _I must have done it,_ he realized, shutting his eye sockets. _And the note I made, another anomaly, to remind myself not to forget the choice I had made._

The doctor trembled and carefully bent his legs, lowering himself down to sit on the floor, cutting off his view of the thriving energy of the Core. He rested his forehead against the wall and shook some more. His bones began to clatter. How? How could he have done such a thing? It was nearly unbelievable. Why, after the war he had … vowed to never kill again. However, he hadn't exactly protested Asgore's decree. Guilt hit him every time he recalled not seeing things from Toriel's perspective in wishing to extend kindness and grace to the race that had reduced the number of living monsters and banished them to a lifetime underground. But he had changed! The arrival of Tabitha, the first human since Chara, had changed him for good. To look for a new way out without more violence.

Only Tabitha wasn't the first human after all.

And violence … His hand lifted, then clenched. No, no he wasn't going to look at his LV again.

If these clues held true weight, then aside from the obvious horror he was responsible for, there was also a new-found danger to the Core. If something fell past its outer crust, did that something become erased? And how was it that Sans seemed to sense the whole thing? Gaster groaned. If only this were another one of his nightmares.

He couldn't be sure. Not fully.

It was all based on theories at the moment.

He would need strong, solid proof. He refused to go by a wavering LV status as gospel.

"I can't … I can't be a murderer. Not again."


	10. Into His Creation

Tabitha did her best to concentrate on the TV screen, but she really didn't follow along with the story the show told. At first it was fun to watch the animals searching through their funny-looking jungle, but after a while Tabitha understood who she was watching. They weren't really animals. They were monsters. Down here, a lot of monsters sometimes looked like animals, so it got confusing for her sometimes. Monsters could look like anything at all, not just something scary. Often a monster resembled an animal. Like Miss Toriel. Tabitha cringed, the thought of the motherly goat lady pulling her alert again.

Beside her, Sans and Papyrus had already fallen to snoozing on the couch, Papyrus' arm draped over his brother. Sans leaned against him, still smiling even in sleep. Tabitha sat beside Papyrus on the end of the sofa. She observed the brothers silently before looking past them to Gaster at the other end of the sofa. He was still awake, but didn't seem to really be watching the TV show either, propping his head up with one arm, an almost empty stare on his face.

The adult hadn't quite been his normal self the whole day, ever since coming back from his outing. She knew Sans had noticed it too, but when she asked him about it he shrugged and in typical older-person fashion, told her not to worry about his Dad and suggested they help Papyrus put together a jigsaw puzzle. To Tabitha's annoyance, she knew she'd forgotten all about her worry, which was usually why anyone older than her suggested anything it seemed. Go play. Watch TV. Don't worry.

She sat up and set her gaze over on Gaster. "What are you worried about?"

He swung his head in her direction and blinked once. "I thought you were dozing off."

"No, I'm not sleepy. Why are you worried, Dr. Gaster?"

The skeleton let his gaze drop smoothly. "Oh, grown up matters and the like that you wouldn't understand."

"But you're not happy," she persisted. "My Mom makes the same look when she's not happy, too. Like she's afraid and mad at the same time."

Now he looked at her, a faint smile on his face. "Afraid and mad, hm? That's a good description."

"What are you afraid and mad about?"

Gaster shook his head, still wearing that funny smile. "It's not something for little ones to worry about."

"But you get to worry about it."

"That's because I'm an adult, child."

Tabitha frowned and mused to herself. She could tell by the way he spoke, calm and firm, that asking wouldn't get anywhere. Well if she couldn't tell what he was worried about, maybe she could distract him. "You know, Sans made me forget to worry today."

"He's very good at that." There was a proud note in his voice.

"Why?"

The skeleton's ghost-like pair of hands popped up and churned in the air, gesturing as he spoke. "Protective. Kindness. He's a very loyal big brother."

Tabitha peered at the two sleeping skeletons and smiled. "Yeah. He's a nice big brother." Then she frowned, recalling something that had happened earlier. "Um … Dr. Gaster? Can I ask you something else?"

"Of course."

"Who's Chara?"

Almost immediately Gaster's head whirled, eye-lights sharp within their sockets. "Where did you hear that name?"

Tabitha winced. "Pap said it. Sans made him be quiet and he got all funny, like it were a bad word."

"It's not a bad word. Chara is just ..." He sighed and shook his head. "It's complicated."

Hearing the uncertainty in the adult's voice only spurred her to find out more. She wanted to help Gaster. He was nice, almost like Toriel in comparison, and Tabitha wanted to know how to help him feel better. She slipped off the couch and walked up to the opposite end where he sat.

"Well … Mom said talking helps when I'd get sad. So maybe if you tell me about Chara you won't think about what you're worried about."

Gaster regarded her silently for a long moment before he smirked. "Clever. You're awfully persistent, Tabitha. But I suppose you may as well know. You would have known eventually ..."

She leaned against the arm of the couch as Gaster gave her a brief story about another human girl, a little older than herself, who had fallen into the Underground and lived with Miss Toriel and her family. But something went wrong and Chara died. By the time Gaster had concluded the story Tabitha had gone stiff, digesting what it all meant. "Miss Toriel's little boy died too," she murmured.

Gaster sighed. "Yes. Prince Asriel was hurt after Chara died, and he did not live."

"Is that why there's mean monsters out there that want to hurt me?" Tabitha looked him in the eye. She felt odd. Something told her she was right, and things were starting to make more sense the more she thought about it all. "And … why I can't go home yet? Because they want to stop me? Because they're so sad about Asirel?"

What sealed the deal was when Gaster nodded once, but firmly. "Yes," he said solemnly. "They're very … very sad."

Tabitha furrowed her brow and dipped her head, focusing on the material of the couch arm under her fingers.

"Not only because Asirel and Chara died," Gaster continued unexpectedly. Tabitha remained with her head lowered as the monster spoke some more. "Chara was a special person. She cared about the monsters down here in the Underground. We can't go back to the surface, where you're from, even though we once lived up there."

She nodded, following along. "There was some kinda war. You talked about monsters up there."

"I asked if the other humans had told you about us. Anyhow … it has been so long since we had seen a human, we hoped that Chara would be … how do I explain it … a friend for us among the rest of the humans. Someone who could help the other humans meet us and show that we wish to be friends again."

She murmured bluntly, "Because you stopped being friends in the war."

" … Yes. We did."

"I just want to go home." She looked up at Gaster. "Why can't we sneak back without anyone looking?"

"If I could teleport you back to the surface, I wouldn't hesitate," he answered. His pale face darkened in a frown and Tabitha sensed fear in his eye-lights. "You see, there is a seal of magic, a barrier, that prevents anyone from leaving the Underground. Even if you've fallen from the surface, you still cannot pass through it."

Tabitha rocked backward, eyes wide. Gaster's eyes mirrored the fear she felt bubbling up. She blurted, "But you promised-"

"I haven't broken that promise, Tabitha." Gaster lay a calm hand on her shoulder. "I'm working on finding a way to break the barrier for all of us. I will get you home, and that's a promise. No one in this family ever breaks a promise once they've given it. But it … it may be a long time before you get to go home again." The skeleton's eye sockets crinkled with concern. "Do you understand?"

Tabitha stared for a long time before dropping her gaze again, going over what she had learned. Her heart was fluttery inside. It was a scary realization, not knowing when you'd get to go home again. Gaster was saying he didn't know when she would go home. She was stuck down here with them. But now at least, she understood Gaster's sadness. Mind made up, the girl slowly nodded her head. "I-I do. It's okay, Dr. Gaster."

Gaster blinked, surprise written all over his long, white face. "What do you mean? Are you … You do understand what I'm telling you Tabitha, don't you?"

She nodded again. "You don't know when I'll get to go home. That's why you're so sad. 'Cause I could be stuck here for a long, long time." When he didn't correct her, she continued, "But, you said you're gonna help me get home, so that means I _will_ go home someday. Just don't know when. But it's better than nevergoing home."

Gaster stared at her so quietly and intently that she finally ducked her head again with a shrug of her shoulders. "I don't want you to be sad, Gaster. Please don't be. I'll be okay. I know how to wait now."

"You shouldn't have to wait," the adult murmured so quietly she almost didn't hear him. "You really are the Soul of Patience, now aren't you?"

"What?"

"It's okay." He offered another funny-looking smile and patted her hair gently. "Thank you, Tabitha. I feel much better now."

She nodded soberly. That's what she was hoping for in the first place.

"But tell me, are you sure you feel all right after what I've told you?"

Tabitha frowned and thought to herself. Stuck in the underground wasn't so bad when you got to stay with Sans and Papyrus and their Dad's house. She did feel bad about Toriel still. Leaving the goat lady was almost as bad as running off and leaving Mom behind …

"M-Mom. I miss my Mommy."

The next thing she knew she was crying loudly and Papyrus was crouching next to her and throwing bony arms around her. "Tabitha! What's the matter?"

She couldn't answer him and instead clung at him like a lifeline as the sobs continued to pour out of her. Papyrus hugged her closer. "It's okay, human. You're all right!"

Sans' deeper voice murmured something, but she didn't hear what he'd said. Then Gaster was saying, "She misses her family on the surface."

"Don't cry, Tabitha!" Papyrus begged. "It's okay! You'll go home someday, but until then we can pretend to be your family if you'd like. You don't have to be sad. You're not alone, and we won't let anything happen to you!" He lifted his head and asked, "Right?"

"Course," Sans said, shifting beside his brother and putting an arm around him. "Anyone tries to mess with this family and they'll have a bad time. I'd have to unleash my best puns and we all know the world will end when that happens."

Gaster moved off the couch and knelt there on the floor, easily wrapping his arms around his sons with Tabitha still sandwiched in Papyrus' embrace. "Whatever happens, my children," he said lowly and gently, "Know that I will always do all I can to make sure you are all safe."

Tabitha's tears slowly calmed down and she settled for simply hugging Papyrus, enjoying the security he and his brother and father all provided together. Papyrus' idea about pretending to be a family sounded like a wonderful idea. Even better if she could take them all to the surface with her to meet her Mom. Maybe then everyone would see how nice the monsters were and be friends like Gaster hoped.

As if reading her thoughts, Gaster's hold on all three of them tightened and she heard him sighing, "We're going to be all right."

* * *

He had a plan. It came to him after putting the children to bed. What worried him the most surrounding the suspicions about the Core and possible memories, items, or human beings being erased and forgotten- they all hinged on the fact he had not one source of solid proof. The devastation was very tangible within himself if he truly had been capable of killing a number of humans. Yet Gaster had the weird awareness that had things been different, had they not taken in a certain secret house guest, he might feel differently about the possible choices he had made in a theorized forgotten time line. After all, the thought had crossed his mind to take Tabitha's Soul or else deliver her to Asgore on first finding her with Papyrus.

The thought of taking that child's life was unforgivable. As it should be for any child. For anyone, actually. Exactly how far had he let his principles wander? Were the other potential fallen humans children too? He found it hard to think of himself truly taking the lives of children. Being a parent would make that horrendously difficult.

His anxious questions could not be silenced unless he had a way to know the truth.

Gaster woke early before the others did. Actually he hardly slept the whole of the night. He had spent hours considering the possibilities, such as what would happen if what he was about to do proved his fears to be true. And how it would effect the boys or Tabitha. Or the whole Underground.

The sobering truth behind it all, however, was even if he had slain humans for their Souls and added them to the Core, all to achieve the barrier being broken, the Underground would likely view him as a noble hero, doing the sacrificing for them and their king. However, it would mean the actions would need to be repeated. That could never happen, not now.

He scrawled a hasty note and placed it under the ketchup bottle in the fridge. If all went well he would be back in time to remove the note before Sans even saw it. He put on his black coat and stepped out into the chill of a quiet, sleeping Snowdin. The doctor took a deep breath before blinking, teleporting himself to Hotland.

Time passed. He was the only person in the Core chamber. Gaster checked the equipment he had brought into the vast area. In the past they had used probes to test the outer crust of the Core. Anywhere deeper hadn't yet been explored. Well, that was now only a theory as well. Perhaps they had sent a probe down further and forgot about it. If a probe could survive dipping below the first layer of energy, then a skeleton without the same life functions as a breathing, flesh and blood monster might be able to handle it as well. It was a risky test, and he might not find anything at all, but it would be a step in the direction of knocking out his options in hunting down the truth.

Gaster stepped inside the small, platform-like enclosure he had attached to a pulley, more suited for holding up monsters alongside scaffolding for buildings to change a light bulb. Today it carried him into his creation. He used blue magic to pull the lever of the pulley and his small box began to lower for the Core. He leaned forward and gripped the waist-high railing, bracing his legs apart despite the fact he was going down at a slow, easy pace. The thought of Asgore finding him now made him smirk. First explosions, and now he himself was going into the Core.

He really needed to distance himself from work for real one day.

His gaze was on nothing but the wavering waves of colors below. This was all anyone could see of the Core. The energy that lay beyond was inaccessible and labeled incredibly dangerous. Gaster caught himself shifting from one foot to the other and frowned, steeling himself. The bottom of his platform touched the surface of the Core and steam hissed into his face. His grip tightened on the railing.

Without looking up, Gaster's blue magic pulled the lever once more. His box dropped past the outer layer of energy. A popping, bubbling sound rang in his hearing, but he remained solid and intact. He lifted his gaze and took in the first layer of his creation slowly.

A lot of warm color met his vision. Oranges, golds, pinks and bits of sparkling silver. Living energy. The atmosphere was thick with haze, and his movements felt hindered. Not exactly slowed, but different. Almost like being underwater. He looked down and found the hem of his coat floating around his legs. Gaster glanced around and squinted, not entirely sure what he was looking for … a sign perhaps. Something human-y, something to give him proof …

His eyes caught odd movement directly below. Something small appeared to be shaking, shimmering, rocketing upward. He let out a gasp and stepped back just as a volley of color flew up the side of his platform, a trail of spinning particles left in its wake. The scientist ducked and did his best to study what was going on around him. Whatever had appeared was moving too fast for him. "Hm … what if …?" His eyes turned blue, but they instantly returned to normal. Blue magic would not work down here.

The colorful object broke apart above him. Gaster lurched forward. "The Souls!"

There were five of them. Five heart-shaped, brilliantly colorful human Souls. Orange, blue, purple, green and yellow. "And still intact," he mused faintly.

" _Look at him. Look at his face"_

" _Why's he look shocked?"_

Gaster froze, his eye-lights shrinking. "Who said that?"

" _We did,"_ one of the voices answered, sounding deep and gruff. The orange Soul bobbed a little closer. _"You idiot."_

" _Why did he come back to see us?"_ the blue Soul voiced. It sounded female. _"Will he let us out?"_

" _And where would we go precisely?"_ the purple Soul responded. _"How long have we even been down here? We may not have bodies to return to."_

"I ..." Gaster held up both hands hoping for silence. "I don't understand, this … this is unbelievable. You still persist even down here, and after death! I-"

He cut himself off, clamping his jaws shut. In his excitement he had totally forgotten the how and why there were five human Souls stuck inside the Core.

Gaster clenched his hands. He had to know the truth. "Who put you here?"

There was only silence from the Souls. The yellow one murmured, _"I think he's either very mean or screwed in the head. Either way, he needs to be taught a lesson."_

Gaster tensed. "Hold on. I need to explain. Up until now I wasn't fully sure that-"

The Souls spun in a circle around him and his safety box. Immediately he grabbed at the rope in a vain attempt to begin pulling himself back up. The box shuddered and jerked, throwing him off balance against the railing for a second. He looked up to see the Souls revolving ever still around him, and growing closer and closer. In response, the box acted as though it had been struck a second time. This time Gaster was pitched forward, diving over the safety rail. He snatched on at the last second and hung suspended above the endless pit of energy. He stared above, trying to see past the outer layer if any of the workers had entered yet. He saw nothing but energy.

" _Stay awhile, monster,"_ one of the Souls growled. _"See what endless death feels like since you're so interested in it."_

The box jerked by unseen force again, and Gaster cried out, nearly losing his grip. His eye flickered back and forth to blue, trying frantically to grab his own Soul and get out of the Core. This was a disaster. He hadn't expected the Souls to still carry their persons' consciousness after death. And they made it clear they remembered him, even if he didn't recall them.

He snapped his head back up and saw that the Souls were revolving around his only source of security so rapidly that at this point he mostly saw a blurred rainbow.

"Help-" He stopped himself instantly, figuring it was pointless to ask for their mercy. He had walked straight into a chance for them to earn some revenge for the pain he had placed them in. As Gaster struggled to pull himself up, he made a decision. A wish. If only he had the power to right all these wrongs … He would gladly give himself up if it meant restoring everyone's peace. Everyone.

The railing shattered and he had a moment of weightlessness as his body plunged deeper within the Core's energy. The air become thick as mud and all sense of color and sound left him. He couldn't tell what happened to the Souls left above.

The last thing he knew was inky darkness seeping into his eye sockets and the feeling of his body being swallowed and pulled apart all at once.

 _Is This What It Feels Like To Be Erased?_

* * *

Sans rolled over and groggily stared at his room. The clock told him it was morning, and the fact the bed he shared with his brother was empty, as well as the small mattress on the floor, told him it was late morning. He flopped onto his back and sighed. "Nice and perfect."

He took his time getting up. One slipper on, then the other. A long, leisurely stretch. Then it was a walk to the bathroom to splash water on his face. Papyrus had insisted once that it was a healthy morning ritual, skin or no skin, and Sans just couldn't bear to let his brother down. Unless the matter involved his socks or fantastic puns, naturally.

Sans strolled downstairs and found Papyrus and Tabitha seated at the table.

"Brother!" Papyrus greeted with a smile. "There you are. I've just made us some breakfast!" He held up a plate of still-frozen waffles.

Despite Papyrus' undying love and knowledge of cooking pasta dishes, simple items like frozen waffles was something he still had to master.

Sans flashed him a smile. "Looks pretty _cool_ , bro. Uh, I thought Dad was gonna cook this morning."

"So did I, but he's not here for some reason ..." Papyrus trailed off, briefly looking confused, but he shook it off quickly. Tabitha turned in her seat and held up her frozen solid waffle. "I don't think Pap knows how to make these."

"That's because his specialty is pasta."

Papyrus put his waffle down and folded his arms seriously. "Now I know these aren't really supposed to be so stiff, but I'm not sure what he does to make them easier to eat."

"Papyrus." Sans waved for his brother's attention. He offered a small, nervous smile. "Do you _know_ where Dad is? Did you see him at all when you got up?"

Papyrus, ever innocent, cocked his head and looked mildly worried. "Well … no, I didn't see him. Maybe he had some super secret business he needed to get to at the lab in Hotland? He's had to go away quickly before."

"Yeah, but not without leaving us a note," Sans grumbled, hands shoving into his shorts pockets. He made his way into the kitchen for his usual bottle of ketchup. His fingers enclosed on the bottle and he froze before eagerly pulling out a folded note. With the fridge door open, Papyrus and Tabitha couldn't see he had found it.

What tipped off an inner alarm was the fact Dad had enclosed a family photo of himself and his sons along with the note. They all smiled into the camera, Gaster standing between a younger Sans and Papyrus. The note was simple, yet written sloppily, an unnatural sign from good old, organized Dad the doctor. _"I'm afraid I may have put myself in danger in order to find the truth. No matter what happens, remember I love you both."_

A full two minutes ticked by before Sans slammed the fridge door shut and stormed upstairs, ignoring his brother's bewildered questions. Sans kicked off his slippers and traded them for sneakers. He grabbed his jacket and stuffed Dad's note and photo in the pocket and took off downstairs again. Papyrus met him, wringing his hands nervously. "Sans, what is going on?"

"Stay here. Stay with the kid. Both of you just stay put, okay?"

"Brother!"

He stopped, halfway out the door and glanced back. He forced himself to grin. "Look. Pap, I just need you to trust me on this right now, okay? There's … something I gotta check out. Okay?"

Papyrus didn't look entirely at ease, but he nodded. "Okay brother."

Sans flashed a stronger smile before shutting the door behind him. He took the necessary steps down the front steps before dashing across the snow, heading in the direction of the transition to Waterfall. Running wasn't going to be enough, though, if he wanted to find Dad and stop him before he did … whatever he thought he needed to do. Darn it, Sans had seen the signs last night. Dad had been so quiet and sober. Grave. Worried. Like he always was when he tried to wrap his mind around some sort of problem, but this was another level of worry.

The first likely place to look would be Hotland and the lab. Sans skidded to a stop and shut his eyes, focusing. He was still learning how to teleport, and long distances were much harder than popping up behind someone or into a nearby room.

The moment he performed the shortcut he could feel a toll of the energy he'd stockpiled from last night's sleep drain away, but he now stood in front of the lab's front doors, so at least it had worked. He let himself in and started calling for Dad, but there was no answer. Sans had only walked in a few steps when he saw the screens showing various areas in Hotland, the lab mostly, and then the Core. The Core chamber had an odd contraption rigged up. Something had been lowered into the Core.

"Oh, no. Please, no. He wouldn't ..."

Sans started to run again. He panted, not going hardly as fast as he could on a regular basis. He growled and made up his mind. A second teleportation at such a long distance sounded impossible to his aching bones, but he chose to ignore it. If anything, he would rather have Dad fussing and banning him to the couch for lack of respect for his poor HP now more than anything else in the world. "Please be okay, Dad … Please."

Sans clenched his fists and concentrated. This time there was a shaky bump accompanied with the usually smooth shift to a new point. He stood in the Core chamber, across from the rigged pulley system. "Dad?"

The whole place suddenly burst with light and sound; the explosion threw Sans across the room and he hit the wall, blacking out immediately.


	11. Don't Forget

Tabitha held her arms up while Papyrus pulled one of his jackets on over her. "Are you sure about this?"

"Nyeh? Of course I am!" He paused to point up and down at her blue dress. "You can't go out in that or you'll freeze to death. Hmm ..." He frowned at the sleeves draping past her hands and proceeded to roll them up.

Tabitha remained still while he fitted the jacket for her. She frowned, a strange, worried feeling bouncing around inside her. "I thought we weren't supposed to leave."

"That was before. Sans has been gone far too long and I want to go look for him. But I can't possibly leave you alone here. What kind of skeleton would I be to leave a mere child home alone?!"

She pouted at him. "You're still a kid, too."

"I'm far older than you!"

He tugged the bottom of the jacket, which reached her knees before he stepped back to admire his work. Papyrus nodded. "Puffy like a marshmallow! That's how you know you're ready to go out."

"Where did you hear that?"

"I … am not sure. But it is true nonetheless!" He marched to the coat rack and pulled on his own jacket. Tabitha shifted her weight, feeling uneasy. She had never left the skeleton brothers' house before. Not since wandering through the snow and meeting Papyrus. For some reason she thought for sure going out was a bad idea. "But Pap, aren't I supposed to stay inside?"

"What for, human? You're not afraid, are you?" Papyrus froze, one hand reaching for the doorknob and blinked at his own implications. "Are you?"

"No," Tabitha said quickly. She hopped forward. "Nope! I just … don't remember why I haven't gone outside before. I thought it was against the rules."

"We never made a rule like that," Papyrus mused with a tilt of his skull, but he quickly brightened. "And since Sans has gone running off for no good reason, I think now's the perfect time to take a good walk! You've been cooped up in here for forever, Tabitha. Now, you think you'll be warm enough?"

She shrugged. "Guess so."

Unable to think of any more arguments about leaving, she decided to just go with it. Besides, she was curious about seeing more of the outside than inside of the house. She couldn't shake the feeling there was a reason why she had stayed indoors for so long, but it evaded her memory. Papyrus didn't seem worried. Maybe Sans had a better idea. He always seemed to know everything, despite always snoozing or laying around when she wanted someone to play with her.

Tabitha stepped out onto the front porch, her hand secure in Papyrus' gloved grip. He marched along and led her down the middle of the street, going the opposite way she had taken when arriving in Snowdin, that much she knew. But it was very cold, much like she remembered. The jacket only kept her covered to her knees and hands, leaving her legs bare to the frosty air, and her shoes sank into the snow, her thin socks not providing much protection at all. Papyrus walked steadily, head held high, eyes bright and welcoming everything in his sight. He seemed completely unaffected by the cold, it wasn't fair. Her teeth chattered in her skull while Papyrus called a greeting to a funny yellow monster with no arms. The monster boy blinked then grinned, wagging his head and taking off, only to face plant into the snow.

"That's Monster Kid," Papyrus explained with an amused chuckle. "He's very speedy when he's not tripping over himself."

Tabitha hung back as the new monster pulled himself up and came over. "Hi Papyrus! Oh, you got a new friend? Way cool!"

"This is my friend, Tabitha!" Papyrus introduced. He glanced down at her. "Say hi Tabitha. He's not going to bite you or anything!" Thus saying so, Papyrus gave her a gentle nudge forward. She hugged herself and offered a small smile.

"Gee, you look pretty new around here, aren't you?" said Monster Kid. "That rocks! Have you been to Waterfall yet?"

"Noooo."

Monster Kid's expression lit up. "Then you haven't met _Undyne_ yet!"

"Who's that?"

"She's the coolest! She's the captain of the Royal Guard. Hey, maybe you'll get to see her!" He began to bounce excitedly. "Tell her I said hi! I'd come with you, buuut I don't want to upset my parents. Last time I went without their permission I hurt myself. Welp, see you later!" He sped off again, but not before falling over one more time.

Tabitha giggled. "He's got no arms. How's he get up again?"

"Why, Tabitha, that's a little rude! Some monsters don't have arms, you know. I don't point out the fact you haven't got any bones, now do I?"

Tabitha blinked several times. "Um … no."

He squeezed her hand and smiled. "That's okay. You're still growing up. You'll learn the right manners! Sans sometimes says rude things, but he should know better at his age."

He resumed walking and Tabitha eagerly trotted alongside him in order to match his longer strides. Moving helped somewhat with the cold, but not much. "I'm _super_ cold, Papyrus."

"Hmmm. Well, we should reach Waterfall soon." He paused and turned, crouching with his back to her and Tabitha eagerly clambered aboard. Papyrus resumed walking, balancing Tabitha on his back neatly. "You'll feel better once we get away from all the snow!"

The little girl clung to him gratefully, fingering the funny red scarf he wore. "Which of you is older?"

"Older? We're the same age, Sans and I."

"You are?"

"Yes! We were made together." He halted in the snow.

Tabitha leaned over and stared at his face. A blank expression had taken over his skull. "Pap? What is it?"

"It's-It's nothing. I just … feel like I'm forgetting something." He got back to moving quickly and frowned, mumbling, "Made? Skeletons aren't made. Are we made? Hmm … I can't remember how it goes."

Tabitha fumbled with his scarf before smiling. "Wanna know how humans are made?"

"Oh, do tell me!"

"We get brought over by big, flying birds and they give us to our Mommy and Daddy. I know, because my Mom said so."

Papyrus laughed. "That's a funny way to be made! Nyeh heh! I … I don't think I have a Mom, or a Dad, but I have my brother, which is just as good."

"I wish I had a brother like you."

Papyrus turned his head and met her eyes. His eye-lights brightened warmly. "I have an idea! Would you like for me to be your big brother?"

The idea was such happy one that Tabitha couldn't contain herself. "Yeah!"

Papyrus swung his head back. "Wowie! You can talk loudly. But it's settled! I'm your new big brother. Sans will probably be your brother, too, but I was first."

"Is he my little brother?"

"Because he's short?" Papyrus snorted. "Goodness, it doesn't work like that, Tabitha! We are the same age, so we're _both_ your big brothers."

"Oh ..."

Gradually the scenery had changed as they talked. The snowy ground changed to damp, deep blue and purple rock. Moisture trickled along the walls, and rushing water could be heard somewhere up ahead. The temperature was a little better, but still rather chilly. Tabitha whined softly and buried her nose against Papyrus' scarf. "Still cold."

"I'm sorry. Maybe you need a visit to Hotland? That will be nice and warm! And you'll get to see the lab, too! We know a doctor who works there. Her name is Alphys and she's really nice."

Clanking, armored footsteps sounded from ahead and Papyrus froze, gasping. "Oh! That must be Undyne. Let's go meet her. Maybe she'll help us find Sans!"

Tabitha did her best to smile, but she didn't like the clanking sounds. They sounded mean and heavy to her.

Papyrus rounded a corner and she spotted a tall, bulky figure striding for them. A long, plume of red hair sprouted from the top of a silver helmet, but the person's face was concealed behind the helmet's pointy mask.

The figure halted and yelled, their voice rough but female. "Papyrus! What are you doing out here?"

"Hello Undyne!" He waved a free hand. Tabitha clung to him tightly with her arms and legs, frowning as they moved closer to the armored being.

The armor lady seemed to bristle. "Papyrus … what's that you're carrying behind you?"

He promptly answered joyfully, "This is my new friend, Tabitha! Say hello, Tabitha. This is Undyne."

Tabitha scarcely made her face known from behind his head. "H-Hi Undyne."

"Er ..." Undyne fixed them with a strong stare.

Papyrus continued to Tabitha, "She's the captain of the Royal Guard. I'm going to enter when I'm older, then she'll get to teach me, won't you Undyne?"

Undyne was silent.

"We'll do training, and I'll learn all about being a member of the Royal Guard, and I'll get to keep a look out for dangerous criminals!"

Undyne's armor seemed to stiffen as he spoke. "Papyrus. That's a human."

"Criminals can be monsters, too, you know."

"No, Papyrus! You've got a human."

"Right!" After a quick shift of his arms the skeleton suddenly held Tabitha out in front of himself, smiling, while the child did her best to lean back out of sheer terror. She was only inches from Undyne's spooky helmet. "Tabitha!" Papyrus proclaimed with a laugh. "Funny name, isn't it?"

Instantly, Undyne made a grab for her. Tabitha let out an ear-piercing screech that made both monsters cringe. In a flash Papyrus pulled her close and backed away, glaring sourly at Undyne.

"Why did you do that? You're scaring her!"

Undyne growled and smacked an armored hand to her armored head, resulting in another clanking sound. "Papyrus, don't be an idiot! You know humans are dangerous! We need her Soul if we're going to get out of here. Haven't you been told the stories? Our story? Why do you think we haven't up and left the Underground? Why do you think I work my butt off patrolling and training?" Undyne took a menacing step forward. Tabitha whimpered and hid her face against Papyrus.

"So I can capture a human! Now hand it over!"

"But she's my friend!"

"Excuse me," a deep, new voice cut in.

Tabitha looked up. They had been joined by a new monster who emerged from another passage, but this one stood out from the others. For one, he was very large, his broad frame concealed mostly by a dark purple cloak. Elaborate golden trim extended off his shoulders, and the tiny, simple crown on his mane of blonde hair made Tabitha wonder if this was the king she had heard about now and then.

She regarded him warily before gasping. He looked like … like Miss Toriel.

"Pap," she tugged at his scarf and pointed. "Is that the king?"

"Asgore!" Undyne swung around, her voice flustered and surprised. "What are you …? I was just handling the situation-"

"Undyne, I'm glad you are here as well. There's been a bit of an accident, you see. At the lab." Asgore turned to Papyrus with sympathetic, gentle eyes. "It involves your brother Sans."

"Sans?" Papyrus stiffened, immediately concerned. "Where is he?"

"He is with Dr. Alphys at the lab. I was just coming to fetch you, but I think you had better go now, as quickly as you can. Undyne will escort you. See that no harm or hindrance comes your way."

"Me too?"

Everyone's attention switched to Tabitha. She blinked and leaned closer to Papyrus, choosing instead to stay silent and observe. She could feel Papyrus' arms tighten faintly. "What about Tabitha, your majesty? I-I know she's human, but she's not mean or anything. She's been staying with us, too!"

"Why?" Undyne snorted. "Papyrus, what were you thinking?"

He squared his shoulders. "We found a little girl shivering in the snow and figured, since we're kids too, we should take care of her." He smiled proudly. "And we did!"

His simple answer somehow made both of the monsters look a little bewildered. Tabitha, too, felt strange. Was that how it really went? She remembered what he said, but it seemed … not quite right. Not fully right. No matter how much she thought back, she couldn't figure out what was nagging at her.

Asgore hummed deeply in his throat. "You're not in trouble, Papyrus. Or your friend. I only want to speak with her privately."

"Oh. If that's all." Papyrus stooped and set Tabitha on her own two feet. She spun and looked up at him, but he gave her an encouraging smile. "It's all right, human! The king's not scary at all. He's just a big, fluffy guy who looks after us all. You'll like Asgore!"

Slowly, she glanced over at the king timidly and conjured a small smile. Asgore smiled back and nodded his head. He looked at the armored lady.

"There now, if you please, Undyne."

"Come on," she growled, yanking Papyrus by the scarf before snatching his hand. "Let's, uh, go find out how your brother's doing at the lab."

Papyrus did not protest. He looked back and waved goodbye at Tabitha. She could tell he was worried, and that made him all the more eager to keep up with Undyne. Sans was important after all, but Tabitha couldn't help but wish she could have gone with him now. What did the king want to talk to her about?

She looked up at Asgore and shuffled her feet. A sudden, horrifying realization dawned on her and she gasped, quickly striking a shaky bow.

"You … don't have to do that, child."

Asgore knelt down, the movement briefly showing a glimpse of golden armor beyond the purple cape encasing his massive form. She switched her gaze onto his face instead. He looked so peaceful, yet he seemed a little tired. Like Mom would look after a long day, when nothing seemed to go right.

He asked her gently, "What is your name?"

"Tabitha."

"A lovely name. How old are you?"

"Six." She held up six fingers for clarification.

"Are you the only human down here in the Underground?"

"Y-Yes … I want to go home, though. My Mom doesn't know where I am. I'm … waiting."

Asgore lifted an eyebrow. "Waiting? For what?"

"... I don't remember. I thought I had to wait to leave." She turned hopeful. "Will you help me leave, Mr. King?"

For some reason, Asgore's peaceful face fell and he shut his eyes. The king bowed his head and murmured, "This is far harder than I thought … not at all like I remembered."

"What?"

Asgore rose back to full height. Tabitha fumbled with her hands, unsure of what she should be doing. Had she somehow said something wrong?

"Human." Asgore's voice had transformed from deep gentleness to blunt thunder. "It was nice to have met you. And I am … so very sorry. Goodbye."

* * *

All Sans knew from the moment he woke up were things people were telling him. He opened his eyes and there was Dr. Alphys hovering and stuttering, telling him not to move, to lay still and rest; he had been struck hard from an explosion and his already impossibly low HP was straining to stay whole. She didn't have to tell him twice. The pain gripping his bones was unlike anything he had felt before. A small corner of his mind reminded him he'd been told he would feel this way if he ever pushed himself too far, though he couldn't recall who had warned him. He stayed still and silent, trying his best not to think of the pain by wondering why he had come to Hotland in the first place.

And then Papyrus arrived, hand caught firmly in the armored grip of Undyne of all people. Sans had barely forced himself to sit up when Papyrus burst into worried chatter in unison with Alphys' orders not to move. It was all he could do to stay calm. He knew he was okay, really, pain or not, but Papyrus showing up with the Captain of the Royal Guard begged a very urgent question: Where was Tabitha?

But Papyrus soon told him where. Asgore requested time alone with their human friend. Wasn't that exciting? The king was speaking with a human for the first time in years. Maybe they were discussing possible ways to bring more understanding between the two races in the future. Such optimistic thoughts, and all from Papyrus, but Sans knew better. He knew better, and taking one look at the two other faces in the room with him told him everyone else knew better, too. He lay back down and let his eyes drift until they closed and Papyrus continued to tell him about his day, how worried he was for Sans, and why did he have to go running off like that anyway?

"King Asgore!" Undyne suddenly gasped.

Sans turned his head sharply and located the broad figure of the king of the Underground. Asgore stood in the doorway of the little room and offered a nervous smile.

"Hello everyone. I'm sorry I took so long, I always tend to get a little turned around here in the Core's building. Bit of a maze, isn't it?"

He kept one arm hidden beneath his draping purple robes. Sans stiffened. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know for certain what the king was carrying. There weren't any other signs on him that he'd been in contact with a human in battle, though. As if the tiny girl could have stood a chance in a battle. When Sans stared him down, Asgore had the decency to shift his gaze away.

But Papyrus darted forward, voice high with excitement, hope, and worry all at once. "Where's Tabitha? Isn't she with you? Is … Is she all right, your majesty?"

The silence that followed while Asgore looked down at the oblivious young skeleton made Sans want to shout impatiently. He wouldn't, though. Not with Papyrus there. Not if his brother truly didn't grasp what was really going on. That was an innocence Sans wasn't ready to see shatter.

Asgore sighed and lowered his bulky head. "I'm afraid the child took ill suddenly. It's quite serious. Dangerous actually. She is being treated at New Home as we speak."

"Sick?" Papyrus pressed his hands to his chin and blinked. "Oh, I knew it! She got too cold when we walked through Snowdin. That's why my brother and I took her in right from the beginning. She was sick and cold. Will she be okay?"

"I'm not sure, Papyrus."

"Can we visit her?"

Asgore shook his head. "No, it wouldn't be safe." He walked up to the forlorn Papyrus, who looked as if someone had stolen the very hope from him, and placed his large hand on his shoulder.

"Don't fear for her, son. She's resting peacefully."

Undyne turned away, making a quiet, thoughtful grunt. Dr. Alphys looked twice as nervous as ever, her concerned eyes flitting from Asgore to Sans. Sans realized even though he had laid still as he was told, his eye had turned to blue out of sheer instinct. He rapidly wiped at his eye socket and muttered to himself, "Don't freak out. Pap needs you."

At that moment Asgore asked, "Is your brother fairing well, Papyrus?"

"Oh, he's … all right?" Papyrus turned, his concern swapping easily onto his brother. "Dr. Alphys says he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Something happened with the Core, right?"

"We had an unusual explosion," Alphys replied gravely. "Sans was in the room. I've asked him if he knows what happened, but he says he doesn't remember."

"Not really." It was the first thing he'd said aloud to them and his voice was choppy and hoarse. Three pairs of eyes stared at him worriedly.

Asgore tilted his head. "Strange … You were caught in an explosion in the Core and have no memory of it?"

Sans grimaced. "Nope. But my body remembers."

"Ah, yes, I see. Young one, I should like to see you for a moment."

"B-But it's too early for him! He should stay still a-and rest," Alphys protested while Sans gingerly pushed himself upright. Asgore stepped over and extended his massive paw. "I'll keep an eye on him, doctor. We won't be long."

Sans huffed a sigh and reluctantly took the offered help. Otherwise he would have fallen flat on his face without Asgore supporting him. The king led him out of the room and to the observation windows of the Core. Sans faced him dully, waiting for him to make the first remark. Instead, Asgore's second arm slowly unfurled from within his robes. Sans gasped and immediately stepped back, his eye sockets turning black.

Asgore held a glass jar containing a cyan, human Soul.

"No. No, you didn't."

Asgore grimaced. "I was afraid that would be a little too much for you to handle, but I know how you are, Sans. You needed to be shown the truth. And I need you to take this seriously."

"You killed her?" Sans whispered fiercely. He gripped his fists at his sides and they shook with anger. "You killed a little girl?"

"I know. And I feel … hopeless about it. Dreadfully hopeless. I hope you will understand, Sans, there's no other choice here. I had to do it. The Underground depends on me to set us free." Asgore heaved a gentle sigh and shook his head. Tears gathered in the king's eyes. Somehow that only fired Sans up even more. Why couldn't the king turn all defensive and tell him to accept things without questioning him? Because Asgore was such a softie, it made it all the more difficult to really follow through with wanting to lash out at him.

"But it's wrong," Sans said weakly, his shoulders drooping.

Asgore quickly and carefully caught him by the shoulder and held him upright. "I know it is," he agreed sorrowfully. "Believe me … I'm sickened at what I've had to do. And I'm terrified because I will have to do it again."

"So … you didn't actually want to kill her. Did you?"

After a long pause, the monster king shook his head faintly, his great eyes heavy and glistening with tears.

"K-King Asgore!"

Alphys came racing from a doorway looking panic-stricken. "You need to come see this!" she grasped at his arm. "Right now."

"I ..." Asgore looked at Sans.

He frowned and shook his head. "I'm okay. Go with the doc."

Asgore nodded gravely and charged off at the lead of the excited doctor. Sans slumped against the observation windows and did his best to accept and digest everything.

Papyrus could never know. That was non-negotiable. Violence, real violence, was something everyone who had met Papyrus would know was something his mind just could not understand without being broken in the process. Sans had the feeling Asgore would not bother telling him the truth, thus leaving the ball in his court. Sans groaned and held his skull. It seemed unfair. His brother could easily be spared the truth in his innocence, but the burden was always Sans' to carry. And he had feelings, too.

Tabitha shouldn't have died.

There had to be another way to break the barrier.

Sans slowly turned himself around to look down at the Core. He perked up on noticing Asgore's hulking form alongside a small white figure that represented Alphys. Sans pressed himself against the glass and realized what they were looking at.

Five human Souls hovered motionlessly above the Core. Monster workers were already devising a plan to gather them with long poles extended with a net on the end. They moved cautiously and carefully, as if worried one foul move would break the colorful Souls.

"More Souls?" Sans said aloud. "How'd that happen?"

It wasn't long before a monster was sent to fetch him, alerting him that the king and Dr. Alphys wished to ask him some more questions. Sans walked along slowly and obediently, but he already knew he had nothing new to add to what he had told them before. He couldn't remember why he had been in the Core chamber when the explosion happened. And he had no idea where those five Souls came from.

He reached into his pocket and absently pulled out a piece of paper. It was blank. With it, a photo of him and Papyrus when they were a few years younger.

Why did the space between them in the picture seem too empty?

* * *

Asgore Dreemurr gazed upon the new additions to the tunnel that stretched and ended with the infamous magical seal that confined monsters underground. The barrier shifted and folded in on itself, unchanged. The six glass containers, each holding a colored, human Soul, sat awaiting those who had to come and see for themselves. At first, no one could dare to believe it. Six human Souls! Six humans had come through the Underground, and so quickly, too. Not many monsters had seen or noticed their presence. Truthfully, it likely made no difference. Many monsters did not seem to realize what a human looked like, despite Chara's picture in the history books. No one had known she was a human at first, other than a select few, the Royal family included.

Still, the news that king Asgore had felled six humans and was on the steady path of gaining their freedom had spread swiftly. Alphys had been asked to make a statement, but the lizard lady hid in her bathroom. Monsters were allowed to come and see the Souls for themselves. Asgore and Undyne had stood by to observe quietly. One by one, monsters came, stared, and went, awestruck and shaking their heads dazedly.

"Can't you feel it, Asgore?" Undyne had said to him once the last onlooker had taken their leave. She had removed her helmet and gave him one of her strong, tooth-filled grins. "There's hope in the air. Everyone feels it. We're closer now than ever before, thanks to you."

Hope.

When Asgore stared at the Souls, he wasn't so sure it was hope that he felt. It was unnerving enough he had no clue who the true killer of five of the humans had been, or why they hadn't revealed themselves. The notion combined with the fresh memory of Tabitha's death by his own hands filled his mind with nothing but regret and dismay.

Despite being alone in the room, Asgore shook his head and stated, "I'm not sure I can do this again."

The Souls, of course, did not answer him.

* * *

Quiet, not quiet. Not really. Slightly. Mostly.

It didn't make sense.

At first when he awoke all he could see was darkness. Inky blackness as far as the eye could see. Actually, seeing was all he seemed able to do, if he was truly seeing to begin with. His mind did its best to make contact with his body, but to no avail. He hung suspended in blackness, at least, he guessed that was his position.

Then he remembered it all. The Core. The Souls. Alphys' theories. Sans' unsettling feelings about their time line. Grillby meeting Tabitha, Tabitha meeting the boys. All of it.

 _I'm erased, aren't I? … is this death, then?_

Nothingness answered him with silence.

Gradually, the silence bent itself and he picked up things. Not exactly sounds. Hard to understand, but they showed him things. Made him aware.

He knew the Souls had escaped the Core in his stead.

He knew the boys had forgotten their father and were alone.

He knew Asgore had committed murder in the name of freedom.

He knew his promise had been broken.

And worst of all, he knew everything else.

Well, perhaps not everything literally, but he could sense things randomly. Hear things.

Sans and Papyrus grew up without knowing him. Papyrus was trying to join the Royal Guard. Sans was still Sans, just older. Monsters hoped to be free soon. Asgore awaited a seventh human and silently worried about the day happening. Undyne trained. Alphys worked. The Core powered the Underground. Old Gerson opened up a shop in Waterfall. Sans was running up a huge tab at Grillby's. Doggo refused to confess he had trouble seeing properly. Monster Kid was bugging Undyne. Alphys cried under her desk. The flower had evil intentions.

Random, choppy information about everything else in existence.

He could not avoid it. Or the constant darkness.

How did one label the state of being nowhere, seeing nothing, yet being fully aware of the world moving on without you? Not even the genius W.D. Gaster knew quite what to call his new life. If anything, it was void of life altogether. Living torture, being nowhere and yet knowing everything. It went on endlessly.

It felt like eternity, really.

Ha. Maybe he was immortal. The immortal Dr. Gaster.

Wait … there was a human out there. In the Underground. Slow down. He needed to listen to it all. Who were they? What would they do?

CLICK.

Gaster swung around. In the darkness, a gray door had appeared. The knob slowly turned and the door swung open cautiously, revealing the short frame of a human in their youth. Gaster recoiled, recognizing them at once.

It couldn't be! She was dead! Chara died, he had pronounced it himself that day.

But the longer he looked, the more he realized how silly the thought was. This wasn't Chara at all. The girl staring into the abyss was someone he had never seen before. Her eyes were squinting in confusion as they tried to make sense of what they saw. It was probably a shock, standing on one side of a doorway where there existed stone and air and light and sound, while the other side only offered a dark void …

Wait a moment. That was reality past the doorway!

Gaster screamed in fury and hope and lunged himself at the open door, and in result, the child shrieked and ducked aside.

He vanished.


	12. The Aboveground

" _Whoops, this phone's almost out of batteries. See you later."_

" _Bye-bye for now!"_

" _See ya, punk!"_

Beep.

Frisk pulled the cell phone away from her ear and stared at the beat-up screen. The phone had survived the Underground right alongside her. The message from her friends was stored inside it and so far no one, not even her foster parents, had heard it. All of anyone's concern when Frisk was found on the mountain had been for her health and mental condition. Nobody had bothered examining the cell phone she had brought back from the Underground. Not like they would have believed it.

The twelve year old girl set the cell phone down on the bed beside her and watched it, letting the memory of Sans, Papyrus and Undyne's voices bounce around in her skull. They all sounded so optimistic and kind. They understood and were happy for her, that she had gotten out and back to the very surface they all dreamed of seeing again. Not once had anyone tried to make her feel guilty. So, why did she feel so horrible?

At first falling into the Underground had seemed like an adventure. One big adventure. A good one, too. She had discovered that in doing her best to show friendliness to the monsters whenever they wanted to pick a fight, it always ended well. They weren't exactly evil in the end. Sure, they knew they needed her Soul to break the barrier keeping them trapped, but once they understood she meant no harm, it was easy to talk or act her way out of injury or even death.

Undyne's challenge had been the worst. There were moments when Frisk severely wondered if she would live or not. But even after all the flying spears, a little act of mercy and determination to get to know the fish lady proved yet again that choosing love could conquer in ways that violence could not. Frisk had never experienced such events. Showing mercy and trying to befriend the other kids never seemed to go very well. But down there, it worked. She felt she could save the whole world if she had to.

But it all went wrong.

Nobody told her in order to leave she would need to kill a monster and take their Soul. By that time she had reached Asgore and still wasn't sure how to proceed, but the monster king knew what his choice was. He made it very clear once she arrived, and those gentle, uneasy moments leading up to the barrier's cavern only increased Frisk's uncertainty.

And then Asgore killed her.

The girl took in a deep breath and glanced down at herself where she sat in bed, remembering the event. The palms of her hands had grown clammy. King Asgore … She had doubted that he would actually try to kill her, after all, nobody else had crossed that line. Death was something that was part of stories, movies and video games. Nobody ever experienced death for real and came back to tell others what it was like. At least, that was how it was supposed to work.

Frisk had only begun to sink into agony and darkness when everything flashed and she had found herself standing outside the barrier's room once again. It had taken her several minutes to figure out she was still alive. Well, no. Brought back was more like it. She had certainly died back there.

By Asgore.

And in a daze, she had walked back in there like a mindless lamb and soon found herself slaughtered a second time.

About four deaths later Frisk had taken to realizing she wasn't merely coming back to life. Her life was resetting every time Asgore killed her. Like in a demented arcade game, she had lives to spare it seemed.

But that didn't make it any less horrific an experience.

She'd tried showing mercy. Asgore destroyed the attempts with a darkened, cold expression.

She'd told him he had killed her before. He only nodded sadly. If he understood what was happening or merely thought she was trying to use guilt against him, Frisk didn't know for sure.

 _I will not fight. I will never fight!_

 **9999999 …**

Nothing she did made a difference. He killed her 16 times before she finally pulled herself together and, with tears streaming down her face, took out the knife she had collected …

No one ever said how easy it was to lash out with a blade. She could still hear the sound of it ripping at Asgore. Her stomach knotted at the memory.

It was Asgore who planted fear back into Frisk. After exploring the Underground, meeting monsters, making friends, it seemed that all she needed to do was stay determined and stick with her convictions not to harm others. All she ever wanted to do was be kind, even among her own race. There was already so much hurt in the world, hurt she felt every day as well, that she had vowed long ago she would do her best to fight against the hurt by being the change herself. And it had been rocky here on the surface of the world. Adults usually showed more kindness than the other children. Sometimes it seemed a little phony, but Frisk knew her choices were good. Falling into the Underground almost seemed to have been the best thing that could ever happen to her. Not only did she make real friends, but her determination had been proven time and time again. She had found … hope.

Until Asgore, that is. The unavoidable king under the mountain who seemed bent on killing her, yet sorrowful at the same time. But he was stubborn. Pleading did not save her life all those times. Staring, trying to make contact and make sense of those heavy, stony eyes did not give her any understanding as to why this seemingly kind, awkward giant would ignore morality and slay a human child. Frisk cried all throughout their final fight, but not out of physical pain from the fire attacks or the slicing from his trident. She cried knowing every time she hit him, he, too, was dying.

It seemed like hours had passed by the time Asgore had fallen to his knees, trident clattering to the floor. She only needed to strike one more time and take his Soul, go home …

But she refused.

" _No," Frisk tossed aside her knife. Shaking, she walked up to the kneeling king and lay her bruised hand over his. "I don't want to kill you. I don't want to kill anyone. I'll … I'll stay here."_

 _Asgore finally looked more like the startled, happily musing king watering his flowers back in the throne room. "You would rather stay here for the rest of your life?"_

 _Nodding, Frisk smiled, a sob escaping her. "Mhm."_

 _The king mirrored her own relief and began to speak of how things would be for now on. She would be part of his family. She would be cared for. And Frisk knew deep down, despite the chilling pain she had just gone through, things would be all right. Mercy had come through again._

 _Then the seeds appeared in a ring around them. Asgore reacted instantly and shoved her aside, taking the sudden attack for himself. His lowered HP failed, he turned to dust and his Soul shattered in front of her._

 _And there was Flowey. "You idiot! In this world it's **kill or be killed.** "_

Asgore's fight was nothing at all compared to the nightmare that came afterwards.

Frisk jumped at the knock on her bedroom door. "Frisk? Are you getting ready to go?"

The park. The fall picnic-thing was today. "Yes," she answered, untangling herself from the ball she had formed while thinking about her recent events. The young girl sighed shakily and clasped her hands on her lap. The bedroom her foster parents had given her was spacious. A double-sized bed, a long wooden dresser, walk-in closet, a comfy chair positioned in the corner with a window and a book shelf. It was more than she had had when living with the other kids at the orphanage. She really needed to acknowledge how lucky she was.

The Kemps were doing their best to help her, she could tell. But they and everybody knew she had been babbling 'nonsense' when she was brought back from the mountain. She had to watch herself. The careful way her foster family watched her, spoke to her sometimes, told her they were still on the look out for any more delusional nonsense coming from her mouth, and thus, her brain.

Frisk went to the closet and looked over an array of coats and jackets and pretty tops. She much liked the purple striped sweater she already wore, and it would be enough against the current outdoor temperature, but she wanted to make sure Mrs. Kemp saw her wearing the clothes she had provided for her. She brushed her fingers over a bright red vest. _Red like his scarf_ …

Frisk winced and quickly grabbed a brown jacket.

She had made it into the living room when she noticed the computer open to the search engine. Mr. and Mrs. Kemp's voices came muffled from their bedroom, so she slid into the computer chair and typed in her question.

It was a well known fact in the town that there had been several cases of missing persons in the past few decades. The single mountain that gave them their scenic background was unanimously voted on as a place to keep away from. No one had ever come back from climbing it … until Frisk. Which didn't exactly help her cause of ensuring people understood she was perfectly fine in the noggin. Throwing a spotlight into the mix was just asking for trouble.

The list of names of those who had gone missing before Frisk popped up. Right away her eyes were pulled to the one name that stood out from the rest.

Sadie Kemp, 17.

Frisk turned in her seat to look at the collage of pictures arranged with care on one of the walls show-casing a bright teenager. Many of the photos were of Sadie performing as a dancer on stage. Now that Frisk thought about it, Julie Kemp, her foster mother, seemed to carry herself with the fluid grace of a dancer. Perhaps it was something she had had in common with her daughter.

Her daughter …

Frisk closed the internet window and slumped back even as her foster parents entered the room. What would they give to know what she had seen? That deep down in the Underground, their long lost daughter's dark blue Soul was encased away in a glass canister, stolen when she was killed by Asgore in the name of freedom.

Of course, there were no such things as monsters. Not if you wanted to appear sane in the head around here.

* * *

Well, he didn't know about the sudden new additions to his body.

If they could be called additions at all?

The moment Gaster had flung himself at the open doorway, things went blank. He could recall foggily thinking he needed to find Asgore. Talk to him. Find his sons. While the memories were fuzzy, he knew he must have gotten himself to the castle. The journey was discombobulated, and he knew he hadn't been fully aware of himself during it, but his mind knew the Underground like the back of his hollow hand.

He had found himself in the cavern with the barrier in it … and then …

Gaster blinked. What were his eyes seeing? Dirt. The ground. He could have rolled his eyes at himself. He planted his hands into the earth and shoved. Something was wrong. He didn't feel fully … there.

His focus shifted from himself to the unnatural brightness that met his vision. Good science, it was bright! From where he stood he could see for miles, and the sun shone over the stretch of rock, forest and buildings like a spotlight. _The sun_!

"It can't _be!_ "

Gaster toppled forward, back to kissing the ground.

What was the matter with his legs? With himself? His whole body felt as though it were made of water. Again he pushed himself up, but with great strain. He finally looked down at himself and paused, struck dumb at the sight of him. His once very normal, tall skeletal body had been reduced to some molten black mass, the same shade as the overcoat he had been wearing that morning in the Core. A warped imprint of a button could be seen where he assumed his chest was. His limbs and torso no longer were visible. Only his head and hands remained, and even his hands hadn't dodged whatever effect his body was under. His hollowed-out hands were now unattached from his form, despite still being fully under his control.

He took a 'step' forward and his whole frame wavered like a blob of jelly. To his amazement his head spun around in a 360 degree turn. Enough to show him the cavernous hole in a wall of rock behind him.

Gaster blinked and slowly managed to turn his head back to facing the front again. "I'm out," he murmured. "I'm free."

This was the surface. The Aboveground.

There was the sun overhead. There was a breeze in the air, rushing over the trees. He could even see specks of light from the buildings of the small town in the distance. Buildings he had never seen before. Those hadn't been there those hundreds of years ago. But now that he thought about it, this area was familiar. It seemed more grown, more dense and less traveled, but he could recall coming here as a much younger skeleton. Before he had ever engaged services as a doctor and lost the free time to spend wandering the land for personal enjoyment. This was one of the areas he had pictured when he spoke of the surface to Sans and Papyrus. The mountain was a good place for watching the stars …

He lifted a floating hand up, the hole in his palm framing the glowing, too bright sun overhead.

"How ..." He blinked. Gaster hummed in his throat and made long sounds out loud. His voice didn't sound quite right anymore. It was tarnished by a layer of distortion accompanied by a faint underlining grinding sound. It gave him chills.

"Side effects," his doctor mind concluded logically. He shook his head solemnly. Time spent in that strange prison of his must have had something to do with these unnerving effects. The cause of his freedom, though, was a bit of a mystery. But at least he had a clear memory to go by. He remembered the child who opened the door. Everything after that was horribly fuzzy, but logic told him he had made it through the barrier.

But HOW?

"It must be her," he reasoned. "That girl … she must have done something in order to bring me back into existence. Whatever she knows, it's important."

He wished he could turn around and march back into the Underground and locate Sans and Papyrus. But they would still be trapped, and how was he to know that if he tried going back he would still be able to reach the surface again? This could very well be a new chance at freeing the Underground. And this time, without bloodshed.

Mind made up, the distorted doctor began his journey down the mountainside. He constantly found himself slumping forwards and backwards like a rag doll, and his head apparently gained the ability to swivel at the lightest movement.

He mentally decided that the next time he emerged from The Void, he was not going to test his body out by traversing a steep mountainside.

* * *

Mrs. Kemp gave Frisk a lopsided smile. "Come on, dear. You're not going to enjoy yourself if you stay to yourself the whole time."

Frisk shifted from sitting with both legs pulled up onto the picnic table bench and let her feet hit the ground. The park was full of people. The playground was swamped over with kids of all ages, a lot of younger ones screaming and crying or playing loudly while the bigger kids, teenagers really, seemed to think it would be cool to climb all over the playground structure's exterior and taunt the little kids from their super cool perches. A handful of adults were scolding the older kids, and the older kids were ignoring the adults.

"I don't like tension too much," Frisk admitted to her foster mom quietly.

"I know. But you need to try and socialize." Mrs. Kemp's smile grew a little. "You've been making progress, Frisk, or else we wouldn't have brought you here today. You can do this. No one here is your enemy."

Somehow that last line transported Frisk back to weeks ago, in the Underground. A lot of monsters had attacked her, but a little patience and friendly actions helped break the ice and they showed their true colors. No one wanted to really be enemies. Maybe she ought to try again with her own race.

Frisk surveyed the fall picnic festival. At the far end of the park nearest to the rest of town was a small stage and a band was playing live music to a crowd of people. Several families had claimed the picnic tables or brought blankets. They moved and walked around in groups, and there were long lines for the food booths and a handful of games that had been set up. Frisk tried to pick out a group of people to at least walk up and say hi to, if only to satisfy Mrs. Kemp and check a bit of healthy socializing off her list of To Do Today. She would avoid the playground shenanigans.

"How about them?" Mrs. Kemp touched her arm slightly and pointed out a small group of five kids. Three boys and two girls. Seemed to be about Frisk's own age. They walked and talked as one, and followed the one red-haired girl, who looked to be their entourage leader.

"They look like a nice bunch," Frisk's guardian continued and she nodded quickly, knowing now was as good a time as ever.

She left the picnic table and strode on over. Shoulders loose, head high, smile kindly. Instead of five human kids, she imagined them as Froggits and her muscles relaxed, her smile feeling a little more genuine. Yeah. She could do this. She could make friends.

"Hi there. Name's Frisk!" She waved and held out her hand to the first person, the red-haired girl. All five of them had stopped and were blinking almost confusedly at Frisk. Not missing a beat, she beamed and complimented, "I couldn't help but notice how lovely your red hair is. I always wanted red hair."

"Oh. Yours is … fine."

Frisk knew her choppy, cocoa colored locks and disheveled bangs were nothing compared to the red-head's silky smooth mane of curls.

"Your name is Frisk?" she asked.

"Uh huh. Silly name, right?"

"Kind of. I'm Ally."

"Frisk!" One of the boys suddenly pointed at her. He was missing a front tooth, she noticed, and wore a dingy black ball cap. "I know who you are. They talked about you in the news."

Here it was! A topic in the conversation that could lead to more room in the group's interest. Frisk was a survivor. Either her story would be seen as impressive, or …

"Everyone says you hit your head or something, coming back all loopy like that."

Or they would just focus on the same thing. Her _problem_.

"Carl, what are you talking about?" the second girl asked, her facing screwing up. She had paused in her dedicated observation of her phone's screen to frown. "You can't just say things like that about people you've just met."

"No, no, no, I'm right. Right?" Carl looked at Frisk expectantly. "My Dad's friend is a police officer. They say you were found crying and screaming about a monster trying to kill you."

"Oh. Well, it's all in your head." The girl went back to her phone without even sparing Frisk a glance in her judgment.

Frisk bristled. "It … None of you were there," she answered hastily. "I'm not loopy."

Another boy smirked. "Well, what did the monster look like? Heh, I bet that's why no one else ever comes back from the mountain. It's got big, scary monsters hiding away, eating people there."

What a joke! She wanted so badly to chew his head off and give him a piece or two about the truth. None of the monsters were bad! And they were so very real it wasn't even funny.

"So I've got some trauma I'm working out." Frisk shrugged slowly, doing her best to appear casual and neutral. Ally was the only one of the group who hadn't begun to eye her in ill-approval or smirk mockingly.

Frisk continued, "But the mountain's not a bad place. It's really a … a great place. We shouldn't be afraid of it."

"Seriously?" Ally tipped her head. She folded her arms. "You're really trying to tell us that the same place that basically screwed with your head is actually safe? Do you want people to harm themselves? There's a reason it's forbidden to civilians, you know."

Frisk opened and closed her mouth. This was not going the way she had expected it to. She hadn't thought she would sound … irresponsible in defending the mountain.

But she hadn't truly been defending the mountain. She was thinking of her friends trapped under it without anyone else's knowledge.

Ally and her little group frowned accusingly. Carl nudged the phone girl. "Loopy."

Frisk dropped her gaze, her face burning. She turned on her heel and traced her steps back to the picnic table. She could feel several pairs of eyes watching her. The town was too small. A lot of people recognized the infamous child who had come back from the mountain. She spotted the Kemps and quickened her pace, but just as she reached them, another woman arrived as well, her expression sharp.

"Do you know what she was just saying?" the woman asked the Kemps, her eyes flashing. "Are you aware of what this child is suggesting to our other young people?"

"What's this about?" Mr. Kemp stepped up. Frisk moved to stand near Mrs. Kemp, but the woman only shot her a concerned frown and made no offering of reassurance.

The other lady frowned. "She's trying to talk the other kids into going to the mountain with her, that's what. I heard it with my own ears."

Frisk snapped her head up. "That's not true!"

"She's a bad influence, trying to make herself sound like she's some super hero just for coming back alive. You two shouldn't approve of this, surely. Not with what you yourselves have been through."

Frisk spun around to look at the Kemps imploringly. "I wasn't. That's not what I meant. I just … I was trying to make friends."

Mr. Kemp looked calm still, but Frisk could tell the lady's words had struck something inside Mrs. Kemp. She stood a little taller and faced the accusing woman. "Of course I don't approve of Frisk or anyone suggesting our children hang out at the mountain. I would never allow a soul to go near that place, but kids can be reckless. Frisk is just still … recovering." Her face reddened slightly. "I'm sorry on her behalf, but please try and understand … The child has some issues to work through."

This seemed to appease the other woman, but Frisk had gone frozen. Everyone around them had heard Mrs. Kemp call her out as a child with issues. Again, adding to the label that she had something wrong with her head.

No. It wasn't true. She had to stand up for herself, but how? What could she say to rectify everyone's loopy impression of her? It weren't as though she could willingly say she had suffered from delusions. The monsters, the Underground, it was all a very real thing. And she was being effected by very real emotional trauma.

"It's not- It's not … I-I'm not ..."

Movement out of the corner of her eye made her turn quickly. Past a pair of gawking teens, the mountain towering in the distance behind, there was a big, black lump moving steadily towards them. Frisk lifted her eyebrows and sidestepped for a better look.

The black lump lifted a white, drooping face and grinned right at her.

"Yikes!" Frisk staggered backward, pointing rapidly, over and over. "Look! Look there's a monster!"

Heads turned. The Kemps stepped toward her, Mrs. Kemp looking from Frisk to the direction of the black being. "Frisk? What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"He's _right_ _there_!"

The monster continued gliding its way toward her. It had no feet, so gliding was the only way to describe its movements. It made odd, crackling sounds.

Frisk backed up some more, ignoring how the surrounding crowd murmured and whispered. Hey, if the monster made it close enough to attack, then they would all see for themselves.

"Frisk," Mr. Kemp snapped. "That's enough. Stop this."

She turned toward him. "Wh-What?"

Mr. Kemp was glaring now. "Frisk. Stop." He stepped forward. "Get a hold of yourself. There's nothing there."

Immediately after he said the words, the monster phased straight through him and continued for Frisk.

A bony hand appeared, reaching for her. " … Child ..."

Frisk couldn't help but scream and pinwheel backwards. She tripped, shot back to her feet and took off at a full run. The Kemps were calling her, people were staring, but she couldn't stop. There was a monster chasing her, and _no one else could see him_!

This was not her day.

She dodged around a couple and leaped over some picnic goers, mind racing. Should she _Act_? Consider _Fight_? Did she even want to attempt to bring up the option buttons out here in the open? Could others even see them? She was already in too deep with the whole "mentally unstable" label. Why, oh, why did it have to be a monster no one but her could see?

She kept running, not even risking a look over her shoulder to see where the monster was. Past more people, past the stage and the band, through the parking lot-

Someone screamed behind her.

Frisk suddenly realized she had darted right into the path of an oncoming SUV. She halted, freezing in pure shock.

The car skidded, glowing bright blue, and turned sharply into a nearby tree. Frisk slammed her hands over her mouth, doing her best not to panic or cry, but the tears were already brimming. What had just happened? What on earth had she done?

Everyone had seen her run out into traffic like a chicken with its head cut off.

Not even she understood how she could have done something so stupidly dangerous.

"Frisk!" Mrs. Kemp dashed toward her. She grabbed at her, seemed to be demanding, almost panicking and with every right to act like it, but Frisk hardly heard her. Her eyes swept the area, but there was no sign of the monster that had chased her. She burst into uncontrollable sobbing and threw herself into her foster mom's arms, hiding her face against her.

Mrs. Kemp turned tense and awkwardly put stiff arms around her shoulders. "What are we going to do?" she hissed more than sighed.

Frisk paused and swallowed back her volley of tears. She suddenly felt very ashamed and vulnerable. Everyone was probably looking at her clinging to Mrs. Kemp like a lifeline, and no one understood why. They probably just saw a child who nearly got themselves killed.

Nobody knew.


	13. Applegum Blvd

Gaster shuffled along the middle of the human-made road. Cars passed straight through him as if he were made of air. He wasn't sure how that was happening, since he was solid enough to walk upright and touch things. But to the humans, he was merely a ghost visiting the surface for the first time. He watched as yet another car phased through him. He was walking down the very center of the street, which would be very foolish had he been fully "there," but as he had no control over that for the moment, he had decided to take his time and observe at his own leisure.

Honestly, coming down Mt. Ebott was almost like traveling back in time and finding everything was not at all as you thought it would be. He could see landscapes that looked familiar, a hill or a cluster of trees, a stream in the woods. But so much had changed. The valley that once housed the human village was gone, replaced with a public park, parking lots, sidewalks and buildings that spread out into the very thriving small town that now commanded attention of any visitor. He had overheard some of the humans in the park make mention of "Ebott county," and the town's name being known as "Starsville." Which was rather fitting, since it had once been a great area for stargazing before all the streetlights and modern buildings arose …

The humans weren't exactly a shock to see. Maybe their sense of style was. Somehow he had gone on thinking of humans wearing the same clothes as they had during the war. Plain tunics, trousers, homespun dresses. The Underground had kept up with the changing of styles only by learning whatever information happened to be gathered in the garbage dump when the humans threw their things away. Gaster himself had made sure they even devised their own internet back in the day. It made sense that humans would look a little different after centuries gone past.

Earlier when he made it to the base of the mountain, he sensed something odd. A pulling feeling within himself. It reminded him almost of how he had been "aware" of things going on in reality without him. The feeling led him to explore the park full of humans, and that had led him to spot the one human he had set out to find. And obviously, she had been able to see him.

Gaster paused and moved over onto the sidewalk to stare into a small pond on the side of the road. Moonlight from the evening reflected clearly, showing him his own reflection. He recoiled with a spooked gasp.

Sure, he knew his body was severely deformed but he had had no idea how disturbing his face had become. What was once a slender white skull with two scars meeting each eye now looked as though someone had taken hold of his whole expression and yanked it into a drooping nightmare. His right eye, already being more closed than the other, looked far more squished than usual, and his left eye, while still the larger, drooped. His mouth was stuck in a falling, twisted smile.

Gaster pressed a disembodied hand to his face and heaved a sigh, once again hearing the odd, muted sounds within his own voice.

"No wonder she ran from me. I'm hideous. I look like someone tried to experiment on my body."

His sense of awareness had led him to locate the girl who had opened the door. Thinking back, he really should have tried to introduced himself instead of blurting out one word, "Child." He hadn't known if she would hear him, but she did. If he hadn't meant to look and sound like an intimidating mistake of creation, well, he had managed to succeed anyway.

The distorted scientist lifted his gaze. The sidewalk turned into a suburban neighborhood. The street name made him do a double take.

 _Applegum Blvd_.

Yes, he remembered! That was the street address on the pair of ballet slippers in his drawer.

He turned and started down the road. The sense was coming back to him now. While he moved, his mind raced ahead, trying to think of a better way to get the child's attention without scaring her into nearly getting herself killed. At least he now knew he still had blue magic at his disposal, or she would have been crushed by the vehicle.

His sense led him to one particular house. The windows were mostly dim, except for one on the side. He soundlessly approached, not even bothering to step over the bushes in his way, and looked inside. A child's bedroom, more specifically a girl's. Frisk – the name he had overheard the child being called – sat in the middle of the floor on a pink rug of fuzzy material, staring at a cell phone in her hands. She had not bothered to changed out of her clothes from earlier, aside from removing the jacket.

She looked so startlingly similar to Chara he had to shake himself. This was not Chara. Frisk's hair was dark brown, not the reddish-brown like Chara's. Her skin was also more tan than Chara's. But she was the same size as the other child had been when she died, and the striped sweater only added to the illusion that Frisk could have been Chara's long lost twin sister.

Gaster pressed his mouth together and hummed. How exactly was he going to do this? No matter what he thought, he knew it was unlikely anything he did _wouldn't_ frighten her right off the bat. By the way she sat tense and wide awake, she was obviously still shaken from the day's earlier events. He felt a twinge of guilt about that.

But at the same time, he needed help. He needed to know the full story.

Gaster waited a minute more before sighing. He phased through the window and the wall and into the girl's bedroom. He held up both hands and summoned his distorted voice.

"Don't be alarmed, please."

Frisk snapped her head up, mouth dropping open in a perfect O. She gasped and somehow vaulted backwards, climbing and standing on the bed. She cowered against the wall as best as possible, already trembling.

Gaster remained very still and motioned gently with his hands, but before he could speak she beat him to it.

"Please, don't-don't." Frisk shook her head, the movement growing faster and faster. She sank to her knees and barricaded herself with her arms.

"P-Please … don't-don't kill me. Don't kill me!"

Gaster was shocked into remaining silent even longer. His overly crammed memory of what had gone on without him while being locked in The Void told him Frisk had been victorious in befriending others and vice versa. But then, he didn't know everything. Not even his mind could contain every bit of knowledge.

The trembling child on the bed caught him totally off guard. This wasn't right. Her reaction was fearful, true, and that was expected, but this … It reminded him of himself those early years after the war.

"My child, I would _never_ hurt you."

* * *

Frisk glanced up in disbelief. The scary monster with an even scarier voice had spoken so firmly, and calmly it confused her. The last time she had met a truly frightening monster in the Underground, he had slain her countless times, laughing while he did it. She just assumed this would be the same.

"R-Really?"

The black thing's pale face actually projected sadness. Droopy-looking, but sad. "I am … sorry for scaring you twice today. I wouldn't have, but I needed to see you. You set me free."

"I did?" Frisk uncurled from her protective ball and stared at him. " … Oh. Oh, yeah. You were the guy in the door … Yeah, I did."

The black mass of a monster actually performed a small bow. "Dr. W.D. Gaster, at your service."

She straightened and carefully slid off the bed and stood to her feet. "My name … it's Frisk."

"That's an unusual name, isn't it?" Gaster lifted his face again, his crazy smile looking a little more natural. Maybe even playful? "But then, as my name is literally Wing Dings, I've always noticed other names that were a little different. However, I think Wing Dings wins first place at just plain weird."

Frisk let out a nervous laugh, humor colliding with the still-pumping adrenaline in her system.

Gaster laughed softly as well. "Oh, well, then. You may call me Gaster. It makes it easier for everyone."

"Uh … uh huh." Frisk carefully sat on the edge of the bed and studied him.

He was pretty tall for a black, jello-like mass. The unattached, skeletal hands with holes in them fumbled calmly before him. His odd face resembled a skull somewhat, but unlike Sans and Papyrus, Gaster's was just plain creepy to look at. However she could tell he was doing his best to appear friendly. She blinked. He had said he was a doctor, and he was being pretty calm all things considered. The friendly joking about his name, the way he spoke … He was doing his best not to scare her. It was kind of heart-warming, considering how terrifying he looked.

"I suppose now is my cue to tell you about myself and why I am here now." Gaster shifted idly and glanced around the room. He located the reading nook and glided over, taking a seat in the chair. He let out a delighted sigh and murmured quietly, "I can still sit. Very good."

"What kind of monster are you exactly?"

He refused to met Frisk's eyes. "A very good one. But I've been forgotten."

And then he told her how he had once been a doctor in the war between monsters and humans. He was the former Royal Scientist and inventor of the Core. He had met another fallen human in Snowdin, and it eventually led to his discovering the other five human Souls trapped in the Core, and how he must have forgotten killing them. He seemed to grow incredibly droopy while explaining the other humans to her.

Frisk frowned. She knew what pain looked like, emotionally. It made her think of Asgore and his regret.

"So, you fell into the Core and took the other Souls' place?" she asked.

"It would seem so."

"Because, Asgore has all of them … including Tabitha's."

"Yes."

"But the Souls didn't go to The Void like you did?"

He made a funny shrugging motion. "I fell in as a whole body. I suspect I must have taken their Souls and fed them into the Core that way. It may have had something to do with that." He fixed her with a steady look. "I was erased from our time line, child. Until you figured out how to free me."

Frisk quickly shook her head. "No. All I did was open a strange door I found in Waterfall."

"Even so, I am indebted to you." Gaster shut both his eyes. "You have no idea how … agonizingly lonely it is to be stuck nowhere and be aware of everything happening without you."

Frisk clasped her hands and looked away. She didn't like it when monsters talked as if she were some powerful being. Gaster being indebted to her, Sans telling her she had gained lots of real love … it just made her feel funny. "I'm no one special."

"Would you tell me your story from your point of view?"

"Sure … why not?"

It felt nice to talk about the Underground and what had really happened. Frisk hadn't realized just how stressed she had been keeping the truth bottled up from the fear of being thought of as insane. But this Dr. Gaster, he was from the Underground, so she could tell him anything about it. Anything. And she told him all of it. How she refused to fight back and showed the monsters Mercy. How so many of them became her friends, or just neutral allies. Gaster listened attentively, perking up now and then, though she wasn't sure if it was in reaction to a name or place she described or because he seemed to need to perk himself up or else fall over onto the floor in his odd state.

" … It was all going so well. I thought I was really making progress. Maybe even making a difference." Frisk folded her hands over and over in her lap and dropped her gaze, her cheeks warming at how cheesy she sounded. But getting the truth out in the open felt like the right thing to do. There was no one else to talk to about these feelings.

"Then … um, th-then Alphys let me know something important. Something I didn't know until I had almost reached Asgore."

Gaster made a deep rumbling sound in the back of his throat. If he had a throat. "I know what you're about to say."

"That if I wanted to go home I had to kill him and use his Soul to cross the barrier?" She grimaced. "Wh-What kind of … ? Who makes up stuff like that? Forces someone to kill if they want to see their home again?"

"It's a very sickening reality. The humans who doomed us also doomed six of their own to die in order for their seal to be destroyed." Gaster raised a hand to his pale brow. "You can get a headache trying to understand what sort of rules apply to such decisions."

"Yeah, well," Frisk fidgeted, her one hand still clasped in her lap while the other toyed with her pink bedspread. "I thought I'd just do with Asgore what I did with everyone else. But … b-but, h-he … he um ..."

"Yes?"

She blew softly. Her heart rate was rising, like it usually did when she recalled those awful memories. "He killed me."

Silence hung between human and monster for a few minutes. Frisk shivered and glanced sideways at a throw blanket on the bed next to her, but she was afraid to move. It seemed silly, but she didn't want to look anymore weakened than she already felt. She still didn't know what Gaster thought about it all. He had admitted to killing five other humans, but he was sorry for it. Perhaps she was over thinking things.

"Child … if he killed you, how are you still here and speaking with me now?"

Frisk lifted her head, eyes going wide. She hadn't been thinking enough. "I-I mean, I … He … It's weird and complicated ..."

"I make it my business to work with weird and complicated. Please explain to me what happened."

"I-I came back … came back to life. Right to the exact moment before we started fighting and he rejected my Mercy. It all happened all over again. And again, and again, and again."

Gaster seemed to lift up a little, his sinking eyes growing a little more vibrant. "The power to Reset."

"You-You know what it is? Because I don't."

"It's one of the more rare human magic abilities … No. Rare doesn't label it correctly. Legendary is a better descriptor. The Reset ability was always thought of as a far flung myth." Gaster's two hands lifted and moved, and to Frisk's surprise a second pair of see-through hands appeared in the air. All four gestured along as he spoke.

"The story, if I can recall correctly, told of a human who used such a power to 'reset' his body's personal age in order to stay young and healthy and in the prime of his life."

Frisk blinked. "But … I reset my life when it ends."

"Not only your life, my dear. The time line. Asgore would have caught on if he had to have killed you many times over. He's … not heartless. Just injured in his own Soul."

Frisk winced. She knew what he meant. "Well, things just went wrong from there on. Eventually, when he kept killing me, I kept dying … I kept hurting. And I realized it just wouldn't … it wouldn't ever stop. So … I ..." She ground her jaws together as hot moisture threatened to spill from her eyes. No crying. Not now. Not in front of a stranger.

"I _had_ to fight him. I didn't want to. He made me."

The quietness that followed was both a relief and a worry to her. It was so quiet Frisk was able to hear a passing car somewhere outside.

"I know," Gaster finally murmured. "I understand, Frisk. You have every reason to be upset."

She shook her head. "Well, he came close to dying so I stopped and told him I would just stay there. No one had to die! Wh-Why did he ..." She folded her hands tightly and forced down a gulp of air before speaking again. "Then Flowey showed up."

"Flowey." Gaster frowned darkly.

" … Flowey killed Asgore and took the six human Souls."

"Good galaxy, no. Oh, no."

She nodded. Her hands trembled in her lap and she tightened her grip some more. At least Gaster seemed to have a good idea what had happened next. "Well-Well, to put things lightly, Flowey killed me a lot … more than Asgore ever did. I lost count."

She inhaled shakily, staring at the floor. "He was … a real big nightmare."

Something rustled by her ear followed by a light touching at her shoulders. Frisk jumped only to blink and stare. Two of Gaster's hands, the solid white ones, draped the nearby blanket across her shoulders.

He noticed her staring and apologized, "Sorry. You were trembling. I know I must seem frightening whenever I do so much as tilt my head."

Frisk quirked a watery smile and sniffled, pulling the blanket around herself gratefully. "Thanks."

"Are you able to tell me the rest or should it wait?"

"Wait? No, there's … there's no point in waiting." But it took her about three minutes to tell him the rest. How the Souls fought against Omega Flowey, gave her health and strength to fight back, and when he was weakened back to his normal flower state, Frisk again extended Mercy. Flowey ran away. With Asgore dead, she was able to cross the barrier. The humans had found her wandering around the mountainside as an uncontrollable, sobbing mess, babbling on and on about the monsters and how they killed her. She knew now she had merely been in shock, but it had been enough to spread the rumors about her mental state.

"Yesterday I checked my phone," Frisk said, wanting to turn the attention off of her condition. "And … Sans had left a message."

"He did …?" Was that a tone of wonder in Gaster's voice?

"Yes. Him and Papyrus … and also Undyne." Frisk blinked and frowned, darting a quick glance at the phone that had fallen to the floor when Gaster had scared her. She sighed.

"What else?"

"What?"

"Your shoulders drooped and you looked a little pale. What else is there?" Gaster's head gently swung to stare at the little device on the floor.

Frisk furrowed her brow. She wasn't sure she liked such an observant companion … but at least he understood why she would act the way she did, unlike her foster parents. So she explained, "Flowey … made a message of his own. Asking me to come back. To find another way to end things."

"He wants you to Reset and try again."

"Yes."

" … That must be it. It's the only way."

"The only way what?"

"To save everyone. Don't you see? Your power to Reset makes you one of the most powerful humans to have lived. Frisk, you have no idea … the Underground needs you."

She shook her head slowly. "No. No, No."

"I can help you. Prepare you, even."

Frisk still shook her head.

Gaster continued, "Resetting will give you an opportunity to look for new ways to set things right. To restore what all has been lost. You would be saving your friends and the whole Underground if there truly is a way without killing. And if there is, you're the only one who can find it. With your Determination-"

"No. No, no, _no_. No!"

Frisk snapped her head up and met his eyes and shouted, "I'm never going back there! I'm not going to let them kill me over and over again. Not again! Just-Just … no!" She gasped and buried her head in her heads, half-sobbing and half-gasping for air. She wiped at her eyes, denying the tears to spill over, and took long, deep breaths, hoping her heart would calm down. Gaster seemed to remain patient and waited while she caught her breath.

A knock sounded on the bedroom door. Mrs. Kemp was asking what was wrong and was she all right in there? Was it another bad dream?

"I'm okay," said Frisk. "Just go. Leave me alone." Mrs. Kemp could be heard walking away.

"You've been having nightmares," Gaster stated quietly.

Frisk sniffled and hugged herself, even rocking gently, willing her body to stop with the constant trembling. "I'm scared. Scared of … dying all over again. Of my foster parents sending me away for being a nutcase. I'm not Determined at all, Gaster. I'm just …"

Frisk let out a heavy sigh and shut her eyes. "I'm _scared_."

Gaster lowered his head, his twisted features morphing into a somewhat thoughtful state. As the minutes began to tick by, Frisk scooted back along the bed to lean against the wall. She was exhausted from her outburst, and not to mention the whole episode in the park. The Kemps were discussing it seriously, she could tell earlier by the tones of their voices from their bedroom. What if she had another episode? Would they truly send her away somewhere?

"Frisk? I'm … I'm truly sorry."

Gaster was alert again, watching her from his chair in the corner. "You're only a child. You've been through a living nightmare and you've had to endure a power you don't understand. It's only normal for you to be badly shaken considering everything. Death has a way of messing with even the strongest people alive. But you're not a weakling, Frisk. You did make a difference in the Underground. And even if all you did was gain friends, that's enough. No one is forcing you to do anything more."

Frisk could only look back at him for the longest moment before she found her voice and said hoarsely, "Th-Thank you … I needed to hear that from someone."

"I know you do," he answered gently. The monster's eye squinted across the room at her. "What have you done to your cheek?"

Frisk winced a little, more out of embarrassment. She lightly fingered the bruised area. "Oh, I … I fell over one time when I was running away from you."

"I still feel horribly guilty about the whole thing. I am glad I was able to use my magic on the vehicle, though."

She looked up, blinking. "That was … you?"

"Of course it was me. You were almost crushed and I feel rather responsible over the whole thing."

Frisk thought for a moment. She snorted and mumbled, "No one would have missed me."

"My, my. Talking in lies to oneself won't improve your health. But you're not my child, so I won't lecture you." Gaster shifted his head around, eyes still watching her. His eye-lights seemed to be flickering gently. Frisk watched them for awhile before letting her gaze drop. "I don't mind if you stay here. It's not nice being all alone, and no one will see you."

"Thank you. I rather like this chair, actually."

A soothing, tingling sensation blossomed on her cheekbone. Frisk glanced up, noticing right away the green glow in Gaster's eye and the faint trail of green between the monster and herself. Green magic. Healing magic. Gaster said nothing, merely bobbing his white face briefly at her. Well, he did say he was a doctor.

Frisk relaxed and settled for resting her chin on the tops of her knees, gladly welcoming the healing magic. It was just a bothersome little bruise, but if he wanted to heal she wouldn't stop him. Besides, it was rather soothing when one wasn't under pressure to stay alive and keep fighting.

How strange everything was. The first time since she had returned to the surface that she was actually able to get the tough stuff off her chest and receive support ended up being from a monster. The first Soul who actually, truly seemed to show genuine care and understanding for Frisk and all she had been through had to be a monster. A monster who seemed to have no problem using precious green magic to sooth a bruised cheek.

Frisk shut her eyes and quietly cried.


	14. Humans & Monsters

When Frisk woke up the next morning she took time to pause for a long, leisurely stretch. Gentle sunlight streamed in the window; she had forgotten to close the blinds the night before. After a monster had walked through the window. She bolted upright and looked around, but Gaster was nowhere in sight. The chair he had sat in was empty and cold. Did a monster of his type even give off any body heat?

Not sure what to think of his disappearance, the twelve year old went through her usual morning routine. When she showed up in the living room, Mrs. Kemp was already there and the woman frowned at the sight of Frisk's rumpled outfit. "You slept in your clothes, dear?"

"Yeah. I … I fell asleep," she replied lamely.

But Julie Kemp smiled, looking pleased. "That's a good thing. Why don't we all sit down and have breakfast together?"

Frisk obediently walked to the table in the dining nook off their kitchen and slid into her seat. Mr. Kemp walked up and set down his coffee mug before sitting as well. "Frisk, I'm afraid things got too heated yesterday. I may have intimidated you, and for that I'm sorry."

She silently watched him. Mrs. Kemp carried over cereal boxes and three bowls.

Mr. Kemp went on. "But if you'll try to understand where I was coming from, I was scared. I've never had to deal with a child acting so … erratic. And obviously being out in public put a lot of pressure on all of us." The man took a moment to glance down at his steaming coffee. He sighed. "I was afraid and did my best to handle the situation."

When he said nothing more Frisk thought that was it. Then she noticed Mrs. Kemp eyeing her, obviously looking for some sort of reply to her husband's statement. Frisk wasn't sure if it were an apology or not. He did seem to regret what happened, though.

"Sorry for scaring you," was all Frisk could say.

"You did scare us, Frisk. This has to be dealt with, or I'm not sure how ..." Mr. Kemp frowned and shook his head before sipping his coffee.

"For one, dear, you need to accept and tell yourself the truth." Mrs. Kemp took a seat and passed Frisk a bowl of cereal. "That you're safe and there's no such thing as monsters. You need to try and ground yourself in what you know to be true. I'm not fully sure what happened between you and those other kids yesterday, but I wouldn't go mentioning the mountain or your hardship surrounding it anymore in the future. It only makes trouble."

Frisk absently stirred her corn flakes. "But this town is practically devoted to those stories about the monster that showed up one day. People don't seem upset about that."

"Because people know it's just a myth, something fun. For entertainment," Mrs. Kemp said patiently. "You need to separate fiction from reality."

"There's no such thing as monsters." Mr. Kemp lifted his mug and took another sip. "Whole thing's always been a bunch of crap talk if you ask me."

Frisk tightened her grip on her spoon and scowled in response. Before she could even remind herself to be careful, as defending the monsters would only make things worse, Mr. Kemp's mug tilted over, spilling hot, dark liquid down the front of his shirt. He immediately cursed and jumped up.

His wife lifted an eyebrow. "Honey, there's no need to be so colorful."

"It just … it just tipped itself," the man spluttered.

"What? Don't be silly. Your grip slipped."

Frisk had gone still, her stirring movements slowing down as she ran the spilled coffee over in her head. She slowly shifted in her chair, hoping to appear casual, and looked around at the surrounding living space.

Sure enough, standing in the corner of the room was Gaster. He stood in a stooped position, a wacky grin plastered across his pale face. He met Frisk's eyes and one of his eye-lights glinted blue for a moment. At the same time there was a faint tug at her sleeve.

Unable to not smile, Frisk turned back to her cereal and bit her lip to keep from laughing.

She had to wait for the Kemps to move on with their morning routine. The moment the both of them were getting ready in their bedroom, Frisk jumped to her feet and practically ran up to the black monster in the corner.

"Where did you go?"

"In your closet."

"Why? What about your chair?"

Gaster made a low, funny rumbling sound. "It's spacious and quiet in there. And you were snoring."

It took the girl a moment to realize she was being teased. Frisk began to smile. "I'm glad you're still here. I thought you were gone."

"Where would I go? No one else can see me. I've been very lonely for an unaccounted amount of time, and I'm not too excited at the thought of being lonely again." His eyes widened a moment and he bobbed his head toward the table. "You saw yourself what I can do. They had no clue of my presence."

"Are you some type of ghost?"

"No."

"Frisk?" Mrs. Kemp walked into the living space and slowed to a halt, her probing eyes fixed on the girl. She smiled sweetly. "Dear, who are you talking to?"

Frisk shrugged. "My imaginary friend."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous."

"Why not? I don't have any real friends. Everyone thinks I'm loopy."

"Once you get through things that won't be the case." Mrs. Kemp pressed her lips together in a worried line. "Mr. Kemp and I have been talking. We have some important errands to run in the city together, so my sister, Louise, will be staying with you for the day."

Frisk blinked. She had only met Louise once. The woman was younger than her sister and had seemed more focused on her shiny nails than getting to know her sister's foster child. "Okay … I was hoping to go to the library, though."

"Maybe she'll take you."

By now Gaster had moved himself around the room and behind the adult. He wasted no time or personal space in leaning his head forward to stare at Mrs. Kemp's face. It was all Frisk could do not to grin or let out a giggle. He looked so intent and curious and the fact Mrs. Kemp had no idea he was there only made it funnier.

"But to be clear, you're not leaving this house without somebody with you. Not after yesterday."

Frisk's shoulders sagged. "I'm okay. I'm not crazy, Mrs. Kemp. You know that … You know I'm not, right?"

The woman sighed and shook her head. "We won't talk about it now. I have to get ready to go." She turned on her heel.

Frisk rubbed her elbow and let her gaze drop to the floor. She felt heavy. Not being reassured of something she knew was true only helped her feel even more discouraged.

She glanced at Gaster, who had now made it to the picture frames on the wall, and wanted so much to point out aloud _See? No one understands but you_. But his focus was captured by the photographs.

"The Kemps," his grinding voice said lowly. "They had a daughter. A dancer, too."

Frisk walked up beside him. "Sadie," she answered softly. "She went missing about six years ago I think."

Gaster simply gazed at Sadie's photos in utter silence. His distorted features seemed to lower sadly. Frisk recalled his own tale about being involved in the previous fallen humans' demise. It was hard to think the rather caring, sensible being beside her could have killed anyone at all, but Frisk knew better. The same heart-wrenching truth had forced her to defend herself against Asgore. That very same truth forced Asgore to believe he had no choice but to kill her.

Kill or be killed … was Flowey right all along?

She quickly shook her head. No. She wouldn't believe that. Everything that had happened was just one big mess. None of them really wanted to kill in the end.

The guilt Gaster must have been carrying showed itself as he bowed his head, sighing weakly. Frisk looked over at one of his disembodied hands and gently grasped one of his skeletal fingers. Talking out loud again didn't seem like a good idea, but the monster seemed happy enough at the simple gesture, giving her a faint smile.

* * *

Louise had no interest at all in going to any old library. "No, it's not a good day to go out. Too much sun," she mused, glancing down at her fair skin.

Gaster had himself positioned directly behind Frisk, the young girl standing hopefully before the couch her babysitter reclined on. The older human's face was powdered and her eyes outlined by an overwhelming amount of makeup. She reminded him of those two silly monster girls that opened a shabby shop in Hotland. At least Bratty and Catty seemed interested in _doing_ things.

"It's not that far, and it's a beautiful day outside." Frisk's tone was light and coaxing. She looked towards the large living room windows and bounced on her heels slightly.

"We could go for a walk."

"Heck no, not in these shoes." Louise picked up the TV remote. "Listen, sweetheart, I'm not usually available like this to just drop by and give my big sis a hand. Other girls usually spend their fall break on vacation. But you're a special case to them, and I owe Julie a favor. And anyway, didn't you have a heart attack or something at the picnic yesterday?" Louise flashed a somewhat sympathetic smile. "Maybe you should just take it easy today and get your thoughts together."

Gaster watched Frisk's reaction. The youth didn't drop eye contact or her small smile. She did sigh and murmured, "All right," before turning and walking away. Gaster stared down Louise on the couch for a few moments longer before shaking his head and trailing after Frisk back to her room.

"What sort of favor does she mean?" he asked once they were alone.

Frisk stood in the middle of the room, arms crossed, expression focused. "Hm? I think they've paid for her college."

"Interesting." He moved himself around so that he was in her line of sight. The deformed doctor raised back his head. "What's this? That expression on your face …"

"We need to go to the library." Frisk looked up at him, her face set. Determined really. "If everyone's dumb-ed down the truth about monsters being real, then maybe there's some evidence about monsters in our history. Starsville is practically known for being a wacky town with a tourist trap about the whole 'One day there came a monster to town,' story they cooked up."

Gaster was glad his features had become harder to read in his new condition. That story Frisk spoke of had to be about the only occurrence in which a monster besides himself had ever crossed the barrier. Even if it was so long ago, Asriel's death being recalled again, and in such a disrespectful memory on the surface, was disturbing to say the least.

"How did you get out of the Underground, Gaster?"

He jerked out of his thoughts and looked at Frisk. "That's something I'm unsure about. I am a monster. However … I'm not exactly fully 'here,' either. Other than for yourself, I still do not exist. Not really."

He shrugged slightly. "I even wonder if my Soul is even there anymore. The Core destroyed me physically and The Void … I'm not sure what The Void did. Some things I do not understand."

Frisk looked thoughtful. "Could there have been another monster like you that started the whole myth in town?"

Gaster shifted his wavering body and fixed her with a calm gaze. "Child, you heard the true story yourself, didn't you? You told me what you learned before fighting Asgore."

Slowly, Frisk's eyebrows shot up. She gasped. "That-That was prince Asriel … and the human. Chara. That was _them_."

"Now you've got it."

The girl grimaced. "Well … I still want to get to the library and do some digging." Again she folded her arms and Gaster could see faint traces of determination lighting up her face. "They'll all be real mad at me if I just sneak out, though. I bet Louise won't even notice."

Gaster thrummed in thought, turning and looking at the window he had come through last night. Being able to move through solid items made him wonder if that were a side effect from his natural ability to teleport. And if it worked similar to teleporting …

"I need to test something."

He glided over to Frisk's dresser and picked up a clock. With the clock in his grip he shifted his way to the wall and went straight through. The clock stayed with him the whole time. He quickly turned around and poked half of his form back into Frisk's room, meeting the girl's surprised face with a drooping grin.

He held out his hand. "Care to go for a walk with an old man?"

* * *

Gaster followed Frisk as she strode casually down the sidewalk of Applegum Blvd. The residential neighborhood was mostly quiet. The air was slightly brisk, but the sun shone brightly, which was why Frisk hadn't bothered to take a jacket he supposed. Temperatures had to be violently high or low to have any effect on him, but he supposed Louise at least had been right about the sun.

Frisk wiped some sweat from her brow. "The library isn't too far at all. Once we reach the street ahead it'll be on a corner meeting the highway."

"I remember when this was all sparse forest and clearings with hand-built dwellings. The surface has changed so much."

"The Underground seemed to keep up pretty well."

"Somewhat. The city of Hotland is our most modern addition."

"Hey, Loopy Loser!"

Frisk stopped. Gaster halted to keep himself from running into her, though he wondered if he would have automatically phased through her or not. Behind them, a group of kids approached, varying in height. A quick calculation told him they were all heftier than Frisk. Their faces were harsher than hers as well.

Led by a youth in a ball cap, they peered at the girl with crossed arms and open stares. The boy with the ball cap nodded. "Knew it was you. I was just telling the guys how loopy you got yesterday."

"Oh! I remember you." Frisk beamed a friendly smile and stepped forward, a hand extended in greeting. "I'm Frisk. But I don't remember your name."

"It's Carl, duh. You don't remember anything, do ya?"

"Carrrl." To Gaster's bewilderment, Frisk clicked with her tongue and pointed with both hands at the moron in front of her. "How's it going?"

Gaster observed curiously as Carl's mouth opened, but no words came out. The dumbstruck boy blinked several times and members of his party snickered. "Dude, I didn't know you were such a ladies man," someone laughed.

Carl seemed to find his voice. "Sh-Shut up. That's just weird. She's a nutcase, remember? Why else would she do that?"

"She's merely testing you," Gaster answered aloud, moving to put himself off to the side, but positioned between them so that he could get a good view of both humans. Frisk was smiling, cheerfully confident while Carl's face reddened and he took his time trying to think of another response. "Throwing you off, and quite easily, too. Your little plan to pick on this child has backfired, human. I wouldn't try picking on the one human to leave the Underground alive."

Mistake.

He'd forgotten Frisk heard every word out of his mouth. She turned her head, sending him an uneasy look and the deformed monster could have kicked himself and his careless ramblings.

Carl latched on immediately. "What's wrong, Frisk? See something? Maybe a … monster?" He stepped forward and violently poked at her shoulder. Frisk stumbled backwards, blinking rapidly.

"Like the one you saw yesterday? Come on, show us where he is." Carl pushed her again, a grin on his face. "Show us all you're not just a loser with a nutty head, yeah?"

Carl's group followed along, grinning, smirking, laughing. They were enjoying themselves.

Frisk dropped her gaze. Gaster saw the buttons float in front of her and Mercy was highlighted. She held up her hands. "I don't want trouble, Carl. Please, just go on your way and leave me be. Everything will be all right."

"What a weirdo."

Carl flicked his finger at Frisk's eye. Instantly the girl yelped in pain and her hands flew to her face.

Well, now Gaster had had enough.

Much to Carl's shock, the boy suddenly found himself lifting off the ground. Carl shrieked and made desperate attempts to grab at the air, but to no avail. His friends gasped and staggered away, their wide eyes trained on their floating friend. Unknown to everyone other than himself and Frisk, Gaster had taken hold of the boy's Soul. As his skeletal hand moved upward, so did the boy.

Gaster flicked his wrist and brought the whimpering youth closer. Gaster lifted himself to his full height and glared into Carl's face. "My, my. Look at that. Your expression is fearful, human. You must not enjoy being pushed around."

With a flick of his finger, Gaster propelled Carl backwards through the open air and into a row of bushes. His friends yelled when the boy flew through the air and they scattered. Carl picked himself up, shaking madly, took one look at Frisk and bolted.

Silently, Gaster sent a small glow of green magic to Frisk before saying, "Come along. We don't want too much attention on us."

She stopped rubbing her eye and they resumed walking, albeit faster than before. Frisk laughed softly. "Like you didn't just make a guy float in front of everyone?"

"He had it coming. I don't have any patience for bullies."

" … Thank you." Frisk hesitated. "I don't get it, though. You're so … so nice. Sticking around, helping me, listening … Why?"

The former Royal Scientist turned his head to face her while they continued to walk. "For the same reasons I came to you, child. Because no one else will."

* * *

The library was small. Much like the small, cozy building they had in Snowdin. It was all one ground floor, one side dedicated for children, the other for the adults. A handful of computers were centered outside of the bookshelves in the adult's area. Frisk had selected a couple of books about Ebott mountain and had taken a seat at a computer, bent on trying to pinpoint how and when Asriel had been spotted and how the story had been taken in the form of a myth for the tourist trap. Gaster hovered close by, keeping an eye on those in the small building. Nobody seemed to object to the child's presence.

"It would have been before the other people started going missing in the mountain," Frisk murmured, eyes on a book's pages. Gaster frowned. He pointed at the computer screen. "Could you do me a favor, Frisk? Look up something for me."

She set her book aside and jumped onto a search engine. "Sure. What do you want me to look up?"

"Tabitha. I would like to know how her family is doing."

Frisk was silent as she entered the name. Gaster peered over her shoulder, recognizing how quickly the girl was able to find lists and articles about the other fallen humans. She had researched them before. As he looked over the information that appeared, his suspicions from so long ago were confirmed. Tabitha had been the last to fall of the six before Frisk. The news story about her was dated three years earlier.

"Oh," Frisk murmured. "There's something else here … about her family."

Gaster remained quiet as he read the new article. It started with a picture of a tiny, run down building that looked more like a shack than a suitable place to dwell in.

" _House burns to ground. Reportedly the renter, Ted Lewison, 49",_ a photo of a burly, disturbed looking human male with light hair, _"got into a fight with his wife, Carrie Lewison, 36,"_ the photo showed a woman with light brown hair and round facial features that mirrored young Tabitha's, _"which allegedly led to the house catching fire."_ The new photo showed the small house in flames. _"Both died. It is believed that Lewison was drunk. Neighbors say they saw it coming long ago. Lewison was a known addict and had a criminal record for theft and trespassing private property."_

It was dated six months ago.

Gaster slowly shut his eyes. _And she had been so patient to see her mother again_ …

* * *

Louise was furious. Frisk was surprised right off the bat that the young woman could become so frazzled and animated. But truthfully, knowing your twelve year old charge had been missing and then just showed up randomly in the kitchen for a glass of water with absolutely no regret or emotion otherwise at said young woman's rage, it was understandable why Louise would be angry at all.

It just seemed surprising how high her voice could go.

"Go to your room, Frisk! And you stay there until my sister and her husband get home. Don't think I didn't call them when you went missing."

Frisk, carrying her cup of water in her hands, trotted gracefully down the hallway and into her room. Once the door was shut, she crossed to her closet and nudged the door open with her foot. A pale, skeletal hand pushed it open completely and Gaster offered a small, droopy smile at her from the small storage space.

"Thank you child." He accepted the water carefully.

Frisk stepped back and tilted her head. "So … you're thirsty, right?"

"Not exactly. I haven't been feeling normal urges to consume or drink since … technically since before I fell into the Core." The monster's detached hand held the glass up to his gazing eyes. "I merely want to see if I can drink water."

"Well … there's a wastebasket here if you need it." Frisk turned and took a seat on the edge of her bed, quietly folding her hands in her lap. The sounds of Gaster trying to make sense of himself consuming the water followed. The monster's odd, grinding voice seemed to cough now and then, rumble even, but after a few moments he glided into view and announced, "It did not work at all."

Frisk raised an eyebrow. He responded by holding out the glass, previously full of water. Now it was brimming with inky blue, gooey substance. She immediately slammed a palm to her mouth and turned away, willing herself not to gag.

"I'll take care and dispose of this safely." Gaster phased himself through the wall of the bedroom, heading outdoors. Frisk bounced faintly, straining as if she could possibly hope to keep an eye on him. "What do you mean 'safely'?"

* * *

He could hear the humans coming a mile away, they were so thunderously loud. Gaster remained with Frisk in her room when they both heard the Kemps' vehicle pulling into the driveway. After that, a few muffled words and then Mrs. Kemp was calling for Frisk. Gaster turned to the child and found her face set in an almost blank expression. But the warmth was fading from her kind face and her posture stiffened.

Mrs. Kemp opened the bedroom door and her flashing eyes landed solely on Frisk. "Come out to the living room. Now."

She backed off and down the hall once giving her message. Frisk slowly rose from her bed's edge and carefully squared back her shoulders. "Gaster," she said under her breath, "what am I going to do?"

The former Royal Scientist hesitated before nodding calmly. "You must stay determined, my child. Remember what's keeping you going. You know the truth, deep down."

"Monsters are real," Frisk stated to herself. "And I'm not crazy."

Gaster chose not to acknowledge the fact she went against the rules of her foster parents, because this time he was on the side of breaking the rules. The Kemps were likely good people, but they were afraid of what they didn't know or understand. It wasn't right that Frisk was going to have to face consequences for their lack of truth.

He followed Frisk, staying right behind her the entire time. She faced the Kemps in their living room while Louise watched from the sidelines with a stern frown.

"Frisk, we're very upset," Mr. Kemp began. "Why did you leave the house when we specifically told you not to go anywhere on your own?"

Frisk took a calm breath. "I wanted to go to the library."

"We could have done that tomorrow," Mrs. Kemp interjected, her voice tight and … pained? Gaster focused on the woman for one long moment, reading her expression. So, she was actually worried for Frisk's safety? A glance at Sadie's pictures on the wall reminded Gaster exactly why the mother had every right to feel concerned.

"I needed to look up some important information. That story about the monster that showed up a century ago-"

"Stop right there." Mr. Kemp stepped forward. He slowly pointed at Frisk. "You are _not_ allowed to talk about monsters. Not in this house. That's over."

Gaster reared back even as he heard Frisk attempting to say something in response. She exclaimed, "But it's not a story at all, there really _was_ a monster. His name was Asriel. Asriel Dreemurr. He was-"

"No." Mr. Kemp snapped. "It's wrong. It's delusional. And it's bad for your health, Frisk. We've been doing our best to help you, but now it's looking like we have to seek help elsewhere."

"What-What?" Frisk blurted, genuine fear in her tone.

"If you can't let go of these delusions, then the next step is to-"

Gaster was so busy glowering over Frisk's head at the man spewing nonsense about monsterkind that he almost missed the burning red glow that began to radiate from the child. Something within Gaster reacted and Determination flooded his system, all stemming from young Frisk as she cut Mr. Kemp off with a mighty shout.

"Monsters are _real_!"

The Kemps suddenly cried out and grabbed at one another. Louise shrieked behind them and jabbed a finger at Frisk. "What is that thing?!"

The doctor realized the cause of their sudden fright. Gaster was visible.

He swept his gaze over the three humans, briefly allowing himself a touch of satisfaction that he'd gained visibility all of a sudden – the cause he would have to determine later – and now had the perfect opportunity to assist Frisk's side of the argument and voice himself.

"Greetings. I am W. D. Gaster. And I'm a monster."

The three humans gasped. Frisk turned and looked up at him. "How?" she mouthed, but there was a relieved shine in her brown eyes.

"I'm afraid your history is missing a few key elements from what I've observed. Your children aren't told the truth because none of you were, and who knows how long the lying has gone on since the war. But at least now I can have the pleasure of instructing you three myself."

Gaster manipulated his warped body to straighten as best as he could. "Frisk has been telling you the truth. I knew Asriel since the day he was born. Frisk fell into our domain under the mountain, where we were banished centuries ago by humankind. I knew of the other humans who fell into our mountain … including your daughter, Sadie."

Mrs. Kemp's arm flailed and grabbed at her husband, a weak cry escaping her. Mr. Kemp shook his head. "I don't believe it. I don't believe any of this …"

"Gaster?" Frisk asked shakily.

"Yes?"

"I … I want to fix things." The twelve year old looked him in the eyes and nodded soberly. Her Soul bobbed calmly in front of her, Determination filling the atmosphere that he could perceive. Frisk's lower lip wobbled, but she wore a bittersweet smile. "I want to fix this for everyone."

He knew what she was saying. Her time with the Kemps had come to an end. It couldn't continue like this. She was ready and willing to try again.

Gaster placed his detached hands on her shoulders. "And I know you will."

He chose not to spare the other humans anymore acknowledgment. They would likely only protest and want to stop what came next, but they would soon forget once the Reset took place. Gaster summoned the energy to warp, holding Frisk close for her own safety. Despite having not used the warping ability since before his time in The Void, Gaster sensed he was able to use it once more.

They appeared on a rocky cliff side overlooking the town, Mount. Ebott looming directly behind and above them. Frisk pulled back and stared around, amazement in her eyes.

"You just teleported us?"

"It would seem so. Shortcuts are far easier to execute when running away. And it's all thanks to you."

"Me?"

Gaster's voice thrummed, grinding as he started to explain his theory. "You told me once that you weren't at all determined, but frightened instead. What I just witnessed back there wasn't fear, Frisk. You were determined. Tell me, what made you defend the monsters in front of the Kemps?"

The girl paused and thought. "I … I was sick of hearing them talk like that about monsters. About me."

"There you go. I'd say you reached your breaking point and your Determination returned at last."

"How come you could be seen by them?"

"You opened the door to my prison. I have a feeling it's your Determination that set me free and has connected me to you now, Frisk." Gaster offered his best version of a smile, despite his face's condition. "Your power is legendary, my child."

The brunette smiled, laughing softly before shaking her head. "I'm not a superhero, Gaster."

"Am I right in believing you are ready to make a change?"

" … Yes." Frisk nodded, her smile still in place, though a little crooked now. She balled her fists and nodded some more. "I know I've got to. There's no one else. Why should I leave my real family behind if I can try and find another way to save them?"

The distorted doctor shifted forward a step. Gaster knew what Frisk would be doing would by no means be easy, and perhaps nothing short of horrifying depending on who tried to stop her.

"You're going to be tested, Frisk. I have no right to ask you this, because you may end up needing to give up if you can't handle it. Only … if you can, please … save them. Save them all." A tremble shot through Gaster's already unstable body. His voice came out even more distorted and choppy than usual.

"Do for them what I failed to do. Save everyone for me."

Frisk slowly reached out and lay a careful hand against the darkness that comprised his form. "You … You're someone special down there, aren't you? Not just the former Royal Scientist who got erased from time."

Gaster was quiet and fastened his gaze on Frisk's compassionate face.

She quirked a little smile. "You gave yourself away when you warped us and said the word 'shortcuts.' Sans loves those."

The distorted skeletal monster blinked before slowly shaking his head, letting out a hollow laugh. "And I thought he was the most perceptive being I would ever meet."

"Are you related to Sans and Papyrus?"

"I'm their father."

Frisk's eyes widened. A moment later she threw her skinny, sweater-sleeved arms around his drooping frame. The child's arms couldn't hope to reach around him fully, but she hugged him as if he would collapse without her. Gaster said nothing, using his disembodied hands to hug back.

"I'm so sorry," Frisk choked out without moving.

"Don't be. I'm merely reaping the consequences of my poor choices. I am … happy enough hearing from you that they are doing well without me."

Frisk shuddered, and Gaster could sense her Determination rising again. "I'll save them, Gaster." She pulled away and craned her head back, looking him square in the eyes and smiling as fierce as the full moon in the sky above. A shining, yellow star-like symbol danced in the air behind her.

"I'll save everyone, and I'm going to save you, too."

Gaster wordlessly watched as the human child turned and strode toward the star, reaching out her hand to touch it. Her final statement had caught him off guard, but now more than ever he knew a simple discouragement such as pointing out the fact he knew he was past saving was the furthest thing Frisk needed to hear. She had a world to fight for, and people to help. She had to accomplish what he never could.

"Stay determined, young Frisk," Gaster whispered. Frisk's hand enclosed around the yellow star and everything turned white.


	15. RESTORE

Frisk closed her eyes and held Asriel close. After fighting the once dead prince – revealed to have been Flowey all along – and choosing to show him Mercy over the despair he obviously deserved when he stole the whole Underground's population of Souls, what was really needed now, was peace. For the both of them.

Any anyhow, she forgave him for his wrongs. He was in so much pain over what he had done.

The black space the human and monster children stood in was an odd, soundless place, but a single beam of soft light illuminated the area enough for them to see each other clearly. Frisk let Asriel weep against her shoulder for a few minutes while she quietly pondered what would eventually have to come next.

Asriel broached the subject first. "Even if you do forgive me, Frisk, I can't keep all these Souls inside of me."

Frisk nodded, still hugging the goat-like monster. "You'll have to return them. But … there's something else you can do." She gently pushed him back and smiled softly at the boy's perplexed, white features. "Something that _we_ can do, together."

Asriel brushed away some tears before they could seep into his fur. "What do you mean?"

"You have unfathomable power from everyone's Souls. And I … I'm a bit of a legend myself, I guess. My ability to Reset." Frisk paused, thinking it through some more. "With everyone's hopes and dreams, and our Determination … we can do so much more than Save the world. We can Restore it."

Slowly, understanding dawned on Asriel's face. "Restore … them."

Frisk grabbed his paw in her hand. "And Restore you, Asriel."

But he shook his head. "Once I release the Souls inside me … without my own Soul, I can't maintain this form. I'll be a flower again. No Soul, no real me."

Frisk frowned and was ready to attempt to devise some other, hopeful plan to Restore Asriel to his true self for good, but the prince smiled peacefully and shook his head. "But this is what I want, Frisk. All the monsters and the humans who were hurt because of me … They deserve to have their lives Restored. Even if I … even if I don't."

Frisk shut her eyes against fresh tears and pulled him close again with a small sob. "Yes, you do."

* * *

It were as though a strong hand had yanked him from behind, because the next thing Gaster knew he was toppling backwards onto cold, stone ground. The doctor lifted his head and froze. His legs were back. And there were his arms, and torso, and black overcoat. His body was normal again. He tentatively pressed one of his hollow hands against his skull and found that, too, felt normal.

Gaster found himself sitting in a small, gray room made of stone with only one door embedded in the wall, but he could smell water in the air. The floor was slick with moisture. It felt like Waterfall. He hesitantly rose to his feet, staring at himself in shock as his body not only looked normal again, but worked normal as well. He was back. Restored, one could say.

"How?"

His attention swung to the single door. After giving it one, long stare, Gaster lunged forward and threw it open.

A familiar navy-purple and bright blue corridor in Waterfall greeted him.

"Gaster!" an aged, scratchy voice exclaimed. Gerson, the old turtle who had once been a famed hero of the Underground, was approaching, pulling along behind him an old cart full of various knick-knacks all presumed to be from his Waterfall shop.

The monster's yellow eyes were round with wonder. "Why, look'et'chu! You came back!"

"Gerson." Gaster blinked, hearing his own, normal voice, if a little wobbly sounding. He beamed. "I-I know, I've been gone … How long have I been gone?"

"Well, where'd ya go?"

"A rather unpleasant destination."

"Say …" Gerson's wrinkled face expressed confusion. "Now thet I'm thinkin' 'bout it properly, I just realized I haven't given ya much thought in … forever it seems. But you've been gone, I know thet."

"I was erased, Gerson." Gaster glanced sideways and shook his head. He couldn't begin to fathom the idea that he had truly been removed, then brought back to existence and everyone's memories. "You wouldn't have been able to remember me. No one did."

"Well, now I do. Iffen you were erased like, how'd you get un-erased?"

Gaster looked up. "I have no idea-" No, wait, yes he did. He had a good idea. He glanced over Gerson and his belongings and lifted an eye ridge. "Where are you off to? You barely leave your shop."

"Didn't have a reason to." Gerson showed off his gap-toothed grin. "'Till now. The barrier's destroyed and we're all packing up, gettin' ready to go!"

Gaster had to steady himself against the wall. He grabbed at his own head, eye sockets enlarging. Did he truly just hear those words? The words he wanted to make a reality for so many years? "The barrier … ? You mean it's really been destroyed?"

"Yep. Gee, you've really missed out on a bunch o' stuff. Hey!" Gerson blinked when Gaster promptly turned and sprinted off. "Wait a minute, there! Gaster, what's the rush?"

The skeleton barely listened. He had only been running a few moments when he remembered his warping ability and teleported himself to the barrier room. The bending, unbreakable mass was gone, replacing by a massive, gaping cavern heading upward, light at its very end.

"It's really gone."

Gaster started walking. The journey through the cavernous tunnel eventually brought him to the mouth of the cave, but before he made it outside a voice cried out from within the light ahead of him, "Sans! I think I see him!"

Gaster froze, his Soul flipping within him. The voice was older, suited for a grown adult, but it still carried its usual exuberance and overwhelming joy.

 _Papyrus_.

Papyrus came barreling into the tunnel, arms thrown wide open, wider than Gaster had ever seen them before. Gaster barely had a moment to look his son over when he found himself being swept up in a massive hug in the arms of a skeleton taller than he was.

"OH, DAD!" Papyrus' voice rang through the air, full of laughter. "YOU CAME BACK!"

A few breathless laughs escaped Gaster as he hugged back, blinking in wonder at the fact his son's strong embrace held him clear off the cave floor. "Yes, I did," he replied hoarsely. How long had he yearned for this moment? The older skeleton shut his eyes. "I'm so sorry I was gone, Papyrus."

"You were gone a very, very long time!" his son enthused in a matter-of-fact tone. He set Gaster back down and the doctor finally got a better look at the other skeleton. Papyrus had grown taller than he had ever expected, and he wore a thick, armor-like costume over his lanky bones, as Frisk had described. But he still sported a red scarf, and his skull's expression was the same, shining smile Gaster remembered.

Papyrus' eye sockets crinkled faintly. "I forgot you for a little while, I'm afraid, but not anymore!"

Gaster nodded softly, a bittersweet note in his voice as he answered, "It's not your fault, son. You had no control over what happened."

"Er … what _did_ happen, Dad?"

Gaster heaved a sigh, deciding blunt truth was the only answer for his boy. "I was … I was erased."

" _I_ didn't forget."

The new, deeper voice from behind Papyrus caused the both of them to turn to the speaker. Gaster's Soul constricted inside him and a wobbly grin spread over his pale face. "Sans."

Sans had increased in height, though not by very much or anywhere near the epic height of his brother, but his bones had become stockier, making him appear broader, stronger even. His keen eye sockets stared Gaster down, a mixture of shock and joy on his face. His perpetual grin sagged guiltily as he explained, "At first I did, but not for long. Took awhile, but …" He shifted his weight slowly and shrugged. "Yeah-Yeah, I … I remembered you, Dad. No one else did, but I did."

"Of course you would," Gaster acknowledged softly, recalling his talk with Sans in the lab and how the boy then had expressed sensing things going missing. He'd had no idea Sans would have had to deal with carrying such a burden while his father was stuck in The Void.

They were silent a few more moments before Sans abruptly stalked forward and hugged him, hiding his skull against Gaster's coat as his shoulders began to quake. Gaster held him, then pulled Papyrus over as well. They hugged for a long, long time, until Gaster choked out, "You've both gotten so big. I'm so proud of you two."

"Big?" Sans mumbled. "What're ya talking about, Dad? Pappy is the one who grew up. Me, I'm just fat."

He couldn't help it; Gaster smirked. "I'd say big-boned is more like it."

Sans reared back and blinked, caught off guard, but his brother burst into laughter. "I never thought I'd see the day where I liked hearing _puns_!" Papyrus bellowed, loud enough for the whole Underground to hear.

* * *

Gaster relished stepping out into the calm evening sunset of the surface with his sons walking on either side of him. Papyrus was babbling non-stop about his adventures being in the Royal Guard – or trying to be, at least – to the point where his words ran into one another and made little sense. Sans wore a wide grin on his face and kept his gaze on his father, as if looking away would banished the older skeleton from existence all over again.

Ahead of them was a cluster of monsters, king Asgore's billowing purple cape standing out the most. Gaster spied Alphys and Undyne, but more of a shocker was seeing Toriel again. She was standing a good distance away from her husband, among a few humans of all things, but a short frame in a striped sweater caught his attention before he had time to ponder their presence.

Frisk whirled around, saw Gaster between his sons, and burst into a jog over to them. "Gaster!" she cried. "It's you! You're all right."

"Y-Yes," he blurted. Suddenly he realized Frisk had only ever seen him in his demented, melt-y form. The fact the child had recognized him was a wonderful feeling. Frisk skidded to a stop in front of him, her eyes shining. "I told you I'd do it. You didn't believe me, did you?" She pointed at him, Determination sparking in her brown eyes. "I said I would save you, and I meant it."

"And you've proven yourself to be a powerful ally and legend for us," Gaster said, bending onto his knees. He lay a hand on Frisk's shoulder and beamed. "I knew you'd save us all."

For some reason, the girl seemed to smile even harder. Tears actually formed in her eyes. "Not all of us," she whispered, "but … most of us."

She looked over her shoulder and called out, "Tabitha! C'mere!"

"What did you just …?"

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sans step into view, smiling at him with a hint of caution. A smaller figure separated from the humans among Toriel and raced over to Frisk. There was no mistaking the little newcomer in a blue and white dress.

Tabitha's eyes landed on a very dumbfounded Gaster and she lit up like Christmas lights. "Dr. Gaster, you came back!"

Somehow she latched her short arms around him and proceeded to babble how happy she was to see him, how he'd been gone and they had trouble remembering him, but Gaster barely heard the details. He could only stare at the human in cold shock, unable to move himself. Hadn't she died? Yes, she had. Asgore had taken her Soul. The doctor shakily brushed his hand over the child's head, further grounding himself in the fact that she was really there.

"You okay, Dad?" That was Sans' deep, prompting voice next to him, and Frisk was gently pulling Tabitha away, laughing, "You're gonna talk his head off like that!"

Gaster's gaze landed first on Sans. His son openly raised his brow bones, silently asking his question again. Then Gaster turned to Frisk. There wasn't an ounce of confusion on her expression. Just joy. "Determination is a strange thing," she admitted with a smile. "You can Restore all sorts of things if you try hard enough."

"You mean to tell me you brought her back?"

Frisk nodded, absently wrapping an arm around a frowning Tabitha. Gaster would have asked the very important question of HOW that had happened, only the looming figure of king Asgore began to approach.

Asgore's kind eyes were fastened on Gaster, wonder written all over his furry face. "Dr. Gaster, it _is_ you. You've returned."

"Your majesty." Gaster rose back to his full height as the king neared. He hesitated, glancing at Frisk for her reaction to someone whom she had confided in him that had caused her such heartbreak, but the girl was busy holding Tabitha close to her. The younger child trembled while the older offered Gaster a bittersweet sort of look and it clicked. Of course. Asgore had killed them both in the past.

Seeming to sense the two human's discomfort, Asgore stopped a few feet away and settled for addressing Gaster from there. "You've no idea what's all happened since you vanished."

"Contrary to that, I actually do. Except, well … what's most recently been going on."

"Be careful where you go, Dreemurr!" A stern, yet graceful toned voice scolded.

Toriel strode over, wearing simple purple and white robes with the Delta Rune stitched over the front in obvious support for the Underground. Her hard expression was directed at her ex husband. "Haven't they been through enough without you trying to frighten them?" she asked, waving a paw toward Frisk and Tabitha.

Asgore looked away and murmured, "I did not mean to …"

"Gaster." Frisk suddenly looked up at him. "There's something else you need to know." She softly encouraged Tabitha to stand with Toriel before turning to meet the small group of mismatched humans Gaster had spotted before. As they came closer, the doctor stiffened.

He knew precisely who these five people were.

He could almost see their differing Souls … Perseverance, a sharp-gazed young man. Justice, an older man with a gruff expression. Bravery, a younger, calm-faced male with vibrant amber eyes. Kindness, a tall, slender fellow who fidgeted awkwardly with his hands. And then there was Integrity, a young woman whose photo Gaster had seen so recently.

Sadie Kemp crossed her arms and frowned his way. Out of all the humans present, she was the first to address him, with ice in her voice. "I know you."

Gaster remained silent and grim-faced as the five newcomers stopped behind Frisk.

Justice, or whatever his true name was, out right glared him down. "Yeah, you're the one who lured us into that room with the wacky vat in the middle. We all went through that scene with you. You killed us."

Despite the fact his words were true, Gaster still had no full memory of it happening. But he knew it was true. "I did."

"That's just nonsense!" Papyrus waved a gloved hand and laughed. He pulled Gaster in for another bone crushing hug. "Why, our Dad's the best-est, kindest Dad in the world! He wouldn't hurt a Froggit!"

Out of reflex, Gaster turned to Sans. The shorter skeleton nodded right away and in fact already wore a smooth grin on his face. He grabbed Papyrus by the arm. "C'mon, Pap, let's go see what Undyne thinks about the surface, huh?"

"Hm? Oh! Yes, I'd love to ask her if she thinks we can challenge the bright ball in the sky."

"That's the sun, bro. Hey, why don't you come with us, kiddo? Tabitha." Sans beckoned and the youngest of the humans eagerly nodded, darting around and as far out of Asgore's reach as possible before joining the skeleton brothers. Gaster had to smile gratefully. Sans was always ready to help cover for him when it came to the younger, sensitive minds.

Once they were out of ear-shot, Frisk took a spot standing in the middle of the five humans, Asgore and Toriel and Gaster. A lot of staring and glaring passed among everyone but the child. She cleared her throat.

"Gaster did kill you and take your Souls," she acknowledged seriously. "Just like Asgore killed me for mine … many, many times in the past. Because they both thought they had no other choice. They just wanted to save their people from a curse _we_ placed on them."

"Does that compensate for murder?" asked Perseverance, eyes narrowed.

"No. I'm not saying Gaster deserves mercy, or forgiveness for that matter … him or Asgore, really. But if I hadn't met Gaster in the previous time line, he wouldn't have been able to help me. Without him, I never would have gone back and tried again." Frisk lifted a wobbly smile to the skeleton monster.

"You helped me find my Determination again."

"You had it all along," he answered quietly.

"Yeah, but I was scared. But I did it, and I found a way to break the barrier and bring everybody …" She turned and gestured an arm around the five humans, pointed towards Tabitha and then Gaster, " … _everyone_ , back to being Restored to life. So, in a way, Gaster helped with that, too."

"But he killed me, Frisk," Sadie shook her head and looked away. "I don't even know how long I've been gone from my folks."

Slowly, Frisk's brown head nodded. "I know. He may not deserve forgiveness for that, but … how many times did our ancestors kill monsters? I'm tired of that game. So …"

The young girl turned and marched up to Asgore. The king's eyes crinkled with remorse as she studied him. Frisk shuddered, took a deep breath, and said, "I-I forgive you, Asgore."

Everyone was quiet after that. The king knelt down on one knee and carefully offered Frisk one of his powerful hands. She took it in both of hers and nodded, repeating herself softly. Gaster glimpsed Toriel's expression wrestling with a mixture of strong emotions.

When Frisk turned back she sounded on the verge of crying, but smiled bravely. "I just want everyone to have a real second chance."

Toriel stepped in and held her close. The five other humans shifted, looking at one another with uncertain frowns and hard stares. No matter how many times he looked at them, Gaster's gaze kept landing onto Sadie Kemp. She seemed to have no problem returning his stare. There was obvious pain in her eyes, and the memory of her parents in town caused Gaster to feel even more grief for what he had robbed the young woman of.

Sadie abruptly stepped forward and addressed him. "What you did was wrong," she stated firmly. "And I don't know if I can ever trust you or feel safe with you nearby. I don't want to be anywhere near you, Dr. Gaster. But I will say this … Frisk is right. She's not choosing the easy path when it comes to you guys and your crimes, but she's right. I forgive you, too."

Bravery gasped, "What?" even as the other fallen humans murmured in shocked surprise.

Gaster grimaced and carefully nodded. "I don't expect you to ever like me or trust me, Miss Kemp, but I admire your honesty. I don't deserve forgiveness."

"Well, too bad. Because I'm not going to live holding onto resentment anymore. At least, I'll do the best I can." Tears were burning in the young woman's eyes now and she finally turned away, allowing Perseverance to take her arm, offering her some solace.

Gaster waited, but when no one else spoke he decided to make a statement of his own. "These words may not remove the pain I caused each and every one of you, but I'm sorry. Truly, I grieve over the harm I caused. I never … I never wanted to kill again."

The humans didn't speak, but there was a good deal of frowning and glaring. However, Perseverance's expression softened faintly while he continued to comfort Sadie Kemp.

Gaster sighed and turned. He could see his sons with Tabitha, chatting with Undyne and Alphys as they stared out at the town below. The little group was at the very beginning of a new, potentially challenging chapter now that the surface was open to monsters again, but they would press on. Gaster would make sure of that.

Toriel, still gently hugging Frisk with one arm, sidestepped over to him. "Gaster," she greeted hesitantly. He could sense traces of disappointment in her kind voice. "It's been a long while. Is it true, what happened? What Frisk said you did?"

He winced. Somehow, admitting his crimes to the former queen made his bones chafe more than facing the humans he had killed. "About slaying five humans and feeding their Souls to the Core? I'm afraid she is correct."

"I meant, how you helped her. When she was all alone on the surface."

"Oh. Yes … I was there for her. I felt that, if I couldn't fix everything else, perhaps I could help just one person, and that turned out to be Frisk." He cast a brief smile at the young human by Toriel's side.

Toriel's gaze was clouded and she wore a small frown. "I am saddened to hear you did resort to such awful measures in the past. But, I am proud that you've faced your wrongdoings with a genuine repentance."

Gaster quirked a weak smile. He knew he hadn't lost Toriel's friendship entirely, and that was all the hope he needed. "You'll consider giving your former husband the same kind of grace, won't you?"

She huffed. "That's a different story from the way I see it. He never acknowledged his decree to kill humans was wrong, and if not for that then you wouldn't have felt forced to take it upon yourself to see it through."

"All right, let's not dwell on that for now," Gaster spread apart his hands. To his joy, his transparent ones mimicked him. "We have a lot to process and much to do ahead of us now. If I may, your majesty … I've missed you. Dearly."

Toriel smiled, flushing faintly, and reached over to touch his arm. "We're all put back together again, it would seem."

Frisk suddenly separated herself from them, turning her back to the two monsters. Gaster blinked in concern when the girl sobbed quietly against her arm. "Frisk?"

"My child?" asked Toriel. "Whatever is the matter?"

"N-Nothing," Frisk mumbled. "Just … I just know I didn't fully save everyone."

"Of course you did."

Gaster's expression slowly fell as understanding dawned on him. He recalled Frisk's story in the past time line, of how a flower had left a message, asking her to return and Reset …

Frisk returned to Toriel, smiling through tears. "Can I stay with you, Toriel?"

"Of course you may! I'd like nothing more than to look after you, my child."

"Good," Frisk grinned and wiped away some of her tears. "I was thinking the same for you."

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 ** _Author's Note_ : Only 1 post left! If you've been reading and enjoying the story up to this point, please review down below and let me know!**


	16. Entry 300

_**Entry 300 Personal Journal**_

 _ **A lot can happen in the span of a handful of years. When I wrote my 200'th entry the boys were only an idea for my future. Now, we live in freedom on the surface.**_

 _ **To this day it has been six years since Frisk freed the Underground and Restored myself and the human Souls. She is now a bright young woman, passionate for monsters and unity between the two races. I think she has a strong, diplomatic future ahead of her. Frisk is gifted in understanding and compassion, and leaders recognize and respect her for it. They aren't balked by her youth, not after they've spent a little time with her. She's got a steady head on her shoulders. Toriel couldn't be more proud. She's invested much of her care and attention in raising Frisk as well as Tabitha.**_

 _ **Tabitha also has flourished as Toriel's charge. I know in the beginning there was a lot of trial and error as she adjusted to the absence of her biological family, but Toriel's patience and Frisk's support have helped her heal. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same as far as Frisk is concerned. They both share in traumatic memories of Asgore, but they help each other move forward. Half the time Tabitha spends her days with Sans and Papyrus. She's either at home with Toriel, or shadowing myself or one of the boys.**_

 _ **Papyrus, as part of a learning program to aid in diplomacy between the races, has miraculously accomplished becoming a part time security officer. He patrols the dining strip downtown, in particular the Italian bistro and Muffet's newly established bakery.**_

 _ **Sans and I manage the science center at the end of town. A brand new lab where humans and monsters can work together to aid and advance the world we live in. When I say Sans and I, it's mostly just I. Sans sticks to a routine only he seems aware of. Yet somehow he turns in his work on time.**_

 _ **Undyne is a legendary gym teacher. Alphys works part time at the new lab while also making a big debut as a comic book writer. She's very creative.**_

 _ **I know that Toriel is happy as she has been a teacher for both races for nearly four years now. Asgore still carries the title of king of the monsters, but he only ever uses his royalty when being present for important events or meetings. The rest of the time he spends as a gardener. The rift between him and Toriel has mellowed somewhat, but I doubt they shall ever fully be what they once were.**_

 _ **Sadie Kemp has opened up a dance studio. She's the only one out of the five to reach out and make contact with me, though not by a lot. They've all agreed to allow me my second chance at life, because of Frisk's Determination to forgive. They are indebted to her, and Joel and Darrel – Kindness and Justice – have become involved in helping other humans understand monsterkind as well.**_

He paused his writing when quick footsteps out in the hall approached the living room of the small house he now owned on the year old Tabitha bounced in with a smile and chirped, "I'm gonna make some grilled cheese, uncle Gaster. You want one?"

Gaster blinked several times and put down his pen. "I thought Papyrus was adamant to make dinner tonight. He's been looking forward to this sleepover for days."

"He still is," Tabitha walked over, her smile growing. She giggled. "This funny white dog showed up and stole his super-secret jar of pasta sauce. He ran off to the grocery store, but Sans is complaining about the hungry stomach he doesn't even have, so Frisk and I thought we'd make some sandwiches to tied us over."

Gaster smirked, using a bit of blue magic to playfully tug at one of the braids she'd twisted her nut-brown hair into. "Clever. I'll take a sandwich."

Tabitha didn't leave just yet. She peered over his sweater shoulder at the journal on the desk. "You don't write a whole lot, do you?"

"Only when I remember to," he replied with a wry smile.

"Did you ever write about me back in Snowdin?"

"Yes. One passage, I think, perhaps two. I don't have the energy or same amount of time as the dedicated journalist would anymore, but I strive to record important days and events."

Tabitha scooted closer to the desk and tipped her head, her eyes watching him carefully. "Can I ask you something, Gaster?"

"Always."

She fidgeted for a moment, frowning down at her hands. "Well, do you ever think about … um, the flower? The one that attacked me?"

Flowey.

Gaster eased back in his chair and sighed, pondering how to answer. Truthfully, he thought about Flowey often because of information Frisk had confided in him, confirming the suspicions he'd had since she freed the Underground and no one ever saw the flower again. While Gaster may have encouraged Frisk to reset, it was the flower's true identity that agreed to help her Save and Restore everyone. That was truth Frisk and Gaster had chosen to keep to themselves.

"Yes, I do. Sometimes. I think it may have been an old experiment gone wrong from the old lab." Gaster studied the child's sober face. "Why? I'd almost begun to wonder if you'd forgotten all about him."

Even as she shook her head Gaster knew it was unlikely to forget a homicidal plant that once injured you. "No. Frisk … told me about _him_." Tabitha looked at him, her expression pointing out his little mistake in addressing the flower as a him.

Gaster blinked and raised his brow bones. "She did? Why?"

"Oh, I had a stupid nightmare is all." Tabitha tapped the side of her head and shrugged. "Frisk was worried I'd get afraid and paranoid about flowers, because … well, you know."

"Trauma isn't to be taken lightly," Gaster agreed softly, recalling how long it had taken for both of the girls to overcome their own, individual challenges dealing with life after an erased death.

"Well, she told me he wouldn't ever try to hurt anyone again. And she said she believes in him. She wants to go back and save him somehow …" Tabitha fumbled with one of the ends of her braids before asking in a hushed voice, "Can Asriel be saved?"

"It's hard to tell … My first answer would be no," Gaster started. He'd had this conversation with himself in his head multiple times, looking for possible answers to Restore the former prince who no longer possessed a Soul. "The main issue is his Soul was lost. Without that, Restoring Asriel is very nearly impossible."

Tabitha's brow furrowed. "Nearly?"

Gaster offered a small smile. "I wouldn't give up on him. And I doubt Frisk has, either."

"Someone like him needs a lot of patience," Tabitha stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

The scientist smiled even more, reaching out to squeeze the child's shoulder gently. "You two. If anyone finds a way to help him, I'm sure it'll be you and Frisk. Just don't get any ideas and go pull off any stunts without asking. You're the Soul of Patience, remember."

"I know," she batted away his hollow hand playfully.

Just then they both heard the front door bang open out in the hall.

Papyrus was calling, "Fear not, everyone! I have returned! And I've got- Hey! What's that dog doing in here?!"

A small, white dog dashed by the living room, heading straight for the front door and, presumably, Papyrus and his groceries. As Tabitha and Gaster watched, Frisk laughed and bounded after the tiny thing. Sans followed behind her at a snail's pace, grinning. "Hey Pap, just throw him a bone or somethin' and he'll probably go away."

"You're no help, Sans!"

Tabitha giggled and darted off for the hallway as well. "I wanna see the poor doggie!"

"Poor?!" Papyrus shouted, followed by a lot of banging sounds. "He's attacking my groceries!"

"Well, maybe he's hungry."

Sans poked his head into the room, blinked at Gaster and flashed his father a broad smirk. "Eh, don't'cha worry, Dad. Got it all under control." His eyes gleamed blue and the door shut itself against the din in the hallway.

Gaster calmly turned back to his desk. By now, he was used to hearing all sorts of shenanigans under his roof. He enjoyed it, actually. His family was all together and having fun.

 _ **There was a time long ago when monsters and humans fought. Nowadays, humans and monsters are friends once more. The alliance is not perfect, but if the ruckus outside my door hints at anything, it's a good sign of hope for the future. For monster and humankind.**_

 _ **We really have been Restored.**_

 _End_

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 _ **Author's Note:**_ **And that's a wrap. I hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please leave a review if you liked it!**

 **Fun Facts:**

 **Tabitha was originally called Cathy when I first developed the story idea.**

 **The original plot wasn't quite what I wanted, so I scrapped the first draft and re-worked the whole plot into what it is today.**

 **In the first draft, Gaster harbored a much stronger hatred of humans that rubbed off onto Sans. Toriel also had a stronger role, appearing to Gaster after Tabitha had run away and making Gaster promise to help the human if he ever found her. The plot followed Gaster realizing the bitterness within himself was hurting him and his son.**

 **Once again, thanks for reading!**


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